where it all began
Orange was born from a failing company, Rabbit, which was owned by Hutchinson Whampoa who was based in Hong Kong. When Whampoa sent a team to the UK to close down the business, they had a different idea; they believed technology could be less intimidating and easier to understand. On the 28th April 1994, Orange was launched as the fourth entrant into a crowded, confusing, and complex UK mobile market. Prices were high and accessible only to business customers. Orange wanted to change all that, and become the first choice in mobile communications, for everyone.
In April 1996 Orange was listed on the London and NASDAQ markets, its initial public offering being ten times oversubscribed. In June 1996 Orange plc became the youngest company to enter the FTSE-100, and was valued at £ 2.4 billion. By July 1997 Orange had gained 1 million mobile customers. It also had the lowest churn rate, better margins than its competitors did. In 1998 Orange gained top ratings for customer satisfaction in the annual J.D. Power and Associates study a ranking it has won seven times since.
Within three years of existence, Orange started expanding its mobile services into key European markets, including France, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia & Spain, as well as across the Caribbean and Africa-standing for the same beliefs in every country that it operates. In Botswana, operations started in August 1998 as Vista Cellular then rebranded to Orange in March 2003. The focus of Orange was and still is on the mobile communications market with a simple vision: a vision for a wire-free future, where people are able to communicate wherever, whenever, and however they wish.
what Orange promises