BERN: The phone brand Orange Switzerland, bought by the French billionaire Xavier Niel for CHF 2.8 billion, will not be around for much longer. The business, originally part of Orange S.A. in France, was acquired by Apax Partners, a private equity firm in 2012, and then eventually sold to Niel late in 2014.
The Swiss company Orange Communications S.A. had 2.2 million customers and CHF 1.3 billion of revenue in 2014 putting it in third place behind Swisscom and Sunrise, Switzerland’s two largest telecom companies – in 2014 Sunrise generated CHF 2.1 billion of revenue from 3.3 million subscribers while Swisscom earned revenues of CHF 11.7 billion from 9.3 million phone subscribers (fixed plus mobile).
The new brand will be launched on 23 April 2015. One reason for the change is thought to be cost cutting. Orange Switzerland has to make on-going payments to Orange S.A. in France to use the brand and this cost adds up over time.
