Orange has decided to hand over the reins of its fixed-line broadband business to BT, it has been revealed.

Speaking to the Times, Bruno Duarte, the network's vice-president of strategy commented that the reason for the change is because of dwindling demand for its broadband and general disappointment with the service.

"We are not satisfied with where we stand with broadband, as our customer base is declining and our [commercial] performance is poor," he explained, before adding: "But we need to remain in fixed-line broadband so decided to fundamentally change what we are doing."

And ISPreview revealed the extent of the problem.

On its top ten broadband internet service providers list, "Orange is currently the fifth largest fixed-line broadband provider in the market with 840,000 customers. However that is down from one million at the same time last year, we can even remember a time in 2007 they had closer to 1.2 million," it stated.

Mr Duarte went on to explain that despite millions being pumped into installing its own broadband equipment in telephone exchanges, it hasn't done the trick.

The infrastructure needs constant investment to stay up-to-date and cutting edge, he suggested.

So what will this new deal do exactly?

Well, Mr Duarte said he thinks "divesting" the broadband network would help Orange to become more competitive in the market, allowing more funding to go into the brand.


Source: broadband-finder