Orange Business Services achieved a “World Class” perceived performance rating from its customers, according to the recently published 13^th edition of the Ocean82 benchmarking report “Voice of the Customer: Global DataVPN.” Ocean82 is an established marketing services firm specializing in benchmarking the customer service experience for the Information and Communication Technologies industry.

In addition, Orange Business Services is recognized by:

• A Gold Award for exceeding the “outstanding” benchmark for customer satisfaction in 17 out of 41 areas of service, including “secure data transfer,” “indispensable to customers,” and “network reliability.”
• Its new world record for customer satisfaction in “reaching difficult locations” and is the only global network service provider that is perceived to deliver outstanding levels of customer satisfaction for “geographical reach end to end” and “coordinating international installations effectively.”
• Higher than average customer loyalty predicts a 95 percent chance that Orange Business Services will grow profitably.

According to Joseph Ferri, Chief Relationship Officer at Ocean82: "A relentless focus on adding value to customers results in sustainable and profitable growth for service providers. Therefore, it is critical to independently measure the customer service experience relative to competitors, market benchmarks and best practice. These measures, when undertaken regularly, deliver the most complete understanding of how well the customer's needs and expectations are being fulfilled; which is critical in the quest to outperform competitors in the global market.”

In total 998 respondents from large business enterprises participated in the survey generating more than 65,000 data points assessing service from bid to bill. These data points were analyzed to derive the Ocean82 Positioning Score, a measure of strategic success and sustainable advantage.

“Our single driver at Orange Business Services is to continually improve our customer experience,” said Dominique Espinasse, senior vice president, Customer Services & Operations, Orange Business Services. “The independently produced Ocean82 results demonstrate that Orange Business Services continues to earn the confidence of our customers. Having our customers report that they are not simply satisfied with our work but find it ‘world class’ and ‘outstanding’ is the biggest compliment that we can be paid as a global service provider.”

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world's largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business Services reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in 166. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business Services delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million mobile data users rely on an Orange Business Services international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business Services is a four-time winner of Best Global Operator at the World Communication Awards. Learn more at www.orange-business.com

France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 45.3 billion euros for 2011 and has 170,000 employees worldwide at Sept. 30, 2012. Orange is the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.