International Telco, Orange, has stepped up its efforts to provide uninterrupted connectivity to its consumer and enterprise customers across the world.
The French based Telco has operations in 26 countries across the world, with a particularly strong presence in the Middle East and Africa. The company's chief executive officer, Stéphane Richard, said that his company had now taken proactive steps in all 26 markets to protect its employees while simultaneously ensuring that it can cope with the increased demand bought about by tens of millions of its customers having to work from home.
“We are living through an unprecedented situation that affects all of us in every aspect of our lives. During this crisis, Orange bears a particular responsibility. More than ever, we need to stay connected to each other: with our families and, for many of us, in our professional lives. To deal with this pandemic, I decided to set up and oversee a dedicated crisis unit at the Executive Committee level in order to coordinate the decisions taken by the Group on a daily basis and the measures being implemented in each of our countries according to the evolution of the situation," said Richard.
"My absolute priority today is to safeguard the health and safety of all Orange’s employees. At the same time, it is essential that we work to ensure the availability, security and integrity of our networks, which have now become critical for the continued functioning of our society. Faced with this considerable responsibility, the Group has taken exceptional measures to protect staff during network operations, visits to customers’ premises, and in our supervision centres and data centres. I am extremely proud of the continued commitment and mobilisation of the whole company and in all countries where we are present," he added.
In its home market of France and right across it's international footprint, Orange is supporting its consumer and business customers, as well as all state, public or “critical” organisations, to make sure that their solutions and networks benefit from the necessary capacity to protect quality of life and to ensure business continuity. Particular attention is being paid to healthcare services, especially hospitals, to safeguard the technological tools they need to deal with this exceptional situation, the company said in a statement to the press.
For each of its 26 distinct markets, Orange has put in place a Business Continuity Plan, which has been defined in compliance with national obligations, making it possible to protect employees and ensure the quality of service to customers.