Orange S.A. is a French multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. Orange has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, landline, internet and Internet Protocol television services since 2006. It traces its origins back to Hutchison Whampoa acquiring a controlling stake in Microtel Communications in 1994 in the United Kingdom. Microtel Communications became a subsidiary of Mannesmann in 1999 and then was acquired by France Télécom in 2000. The former French public monopoly thus became internationalized following this takeover and has pursued an expansionist policy since. The group is now present in Europe, Africa and the French West Indies. Since February 2012, as a result of the company's decision to transfer its fixed-line telephony activities being to its Orange brand, all offers marketed by France Télécom are Orange-branded; and on July 1, 2013, France Télécom itself was rebranded after it. In 2019, Orange S.A. employed nearly 148,000 people worldwide, including 88,000 in France. Wikipedia