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Christian Luginbuhl oversees Orange's environmental, social and governance activities in its seven European markets outside of France
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The "large projects" that he supervises require the harmonization of different network operations
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A large group of cross-departmental employees contribute their input
Christian Luginbuhl has a somewhat unusual role at Orange Group, encompassing oversight of the operator’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities in its seven European markets outside of France as well as what it terms “large projects” of operational transformation nature that involve several departments, from sales through to marketing and finance.
Notably, these large projects include the harmonization of different network operations following an in-market acquisition, Luginbuhl said.
In Romania and Belgium, for instance, the operator has purchased fixed-line operations in recent years in order to beef up its fixed-mobile convergence ambitions, and is currently engaged in harmonization processes in both markets.
In Romania, Orange acquired a 54% stake in Telekom Romania Communications from Deutsche Telekom (DT) in September 2021, with the Romanian government hanging on to the other 46% share. The former DT-owned operator was subsequently renamed Orange Romania Communications, which is currently operated alongside the existing Orange Romania business.
“For the time being, we have been running these two companies in parallel, because one is 100% [owned by us] and the other one is only 54%,” said Luginbuhl, who was speaking to Fierce Wireless at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “The intention is to bring them together as a single company.”
In December, Orange finally reached an agreement with the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization to merge Orange Romania and Orange Romania Communications. Orange will ultimately hold 80% of the new structure, while the ministry will retain a 20% stake. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024.
“In some of the countries, it takes a little bit more time to bring two companies together, especially if you have a scattered shareholder” structure, Luginbuhl commented.
Over in Belgium, Orange last year acquired a 75% stake minus one share in cable operator VOO, to add fixed operations to its existing mobile network base. Orange Belgium is now advancing plans to test multi-gigabit speeds on VOO’s hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network and start XGS-PON 10 Gbps fiber pilots in Brussels and Wallonia.
Also worth noting here is that Orange Group is in the process of merging its Spanish operations with those of Masmovil. Although the deal has just gained regulatory approval, a number of details still need to be ironed out before the expected closing at the end of March. Orange’s intention here is to form a 50:50 fixed and mobile joint venture with Masmovil.
Bringing it all together
In essence, Luginbuhl oversees transformation and harmonization aspects that require input from a large group of cross-departmental employees. As well as Belgium and Romania, his remit covers certain operational aspects in Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia and Spain.
In order to smooth the different processes, a key part of his role is to ensure repeatability wherever possible. “The idea is rather than doing it seven times across the footprint, is there a place where we have enough skills, competencies and access to talents to do it for the whole of the region,” he said.
For instance, the group now carries out its European network supervision and monitoring from one location in Romania, while a team in Poland ensures redundancy. A further task is to harmonize tools, processes and IT solutions, and ensure best practices are implemented in each market.
On ESG, he has a more classical role, with a focus on ensuring that group commitments to the environment and digital equality are met in each country.
On the latter, Orange Europe has also taken some learnings from the Africa and the Middle East region, where the group has a presence in 18 countries.
Operators in Africa, for example, started launching Orange Digital Centers around two years ago as part of efforts to drive digital inclusion.
“In Europe, we believe there is also a place to have an Orange Digital Center in each country, which is a place that can bring together all the activities that we do in the social area,” Luginbuhl said.
Digital centers have now been launched in Belgium, Spain, Romania, Moldova and Poland, with the last one to come in Slovakia this year.