Cingular, Orange Pact ‘Eases Pain’

All politics may be local, but all business surely is not.

With an eye toward keeping corporate customers with international operations
happy, Cingular Wireless today announced that Orange SA has joined its
WorldView partner program.

The pact allows customers with operations in the United States, Great
Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland to manage their
Cingular and Orange wireless accounts through a secure online portal.

Other benefits include a single point of contact for trans-Atlantic
purchase requests and major bids, as well as the ability for Orange minutes to
count toward Cingular volume pricing discounts.

Orange, which is part of France Telecom, is the latest carrier to join the
WorldView program, John Kampfe, a Cingular spokesman, told
internetnews.com. Others include O2, Rogers, Wind, Sunrise and One.

“Cingular is receptive to working with any carriers that will enhance the
benefits and reach of the WorldView program for our customers,” Kampfe
said.

Atlanta-based Cingular has many corporate customers with international
operations. It provides service to 95 of the Fortune 100 companies and more
than 80 percent of the Fortune 500.

The motivation for Orange, which has 56 million subscribers in 17 countries
across Europe and elsewhere, was similar.

“Multinational companies tell us that procurement and leveraging economies
of scale are two of their biggest headaches,” Philippe Bernard, executive
vice president of Orange business solutions, said in a statement. “Our
reciprocal arrangement with Cingular … eases that pain.”