France Telecom Orange and Orange Jordan inaugurate the first Technocentre activities outside Europe
Technocentre is a prominent step that underlines the strong and growing bilateral relations between France and Jordan.
This move contributes in fulfilling His Majesty’s vision in making Jordan an ICT hub.
Under the patronage of H.E. Eng. Bassem Rousan, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, France Telecom-Orange joined hands with Orange Jordan to inaugurate its first Technocentre site outside Europe. The Technocentre in Jordan will serve as a principal access for all France Telecom–Orange affiliates in Africa, Middle East and Asia (AMEA region) that wish to acquire the high dedicated innovation streams, which include voice products and services, portal and multimedia, broadband growth as well as Small Office/Home Office (Soho)/SME services.
The Technocentre is an innovation department set up by France Telecom-Orange to speed up the launch of exclusive services and convergent offers that carry the name of its commercial brand Orange.
Orange Jordan, the sole integrated operator in the Kingdom, announced this step during a press conference held yesterday at its headquarters headed by Dr. Shabib Ammari, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jordan Telecom Group, and Mr. Mickael Ghossein, Jordan Telecom Group CEO, and attended by, H.E. Dr. Ahmad Hiasat, TRC CEO, as well as a number of VIPs and officials including Mr. Denys Gauer, the French Ambassador in Jordan.
The conference was also attended by Mr. Georges Penalver, Executive Vice President of Orange - France Telecom Group in charge of France Telecom Group Strategic Marketing and Orange Labs, Mr. Marc Rennard, Executive Vice President of Orange - France Telecom Group in charge of International activities, Mr. Yves Tyrode, Vice President and Head of the Technocentre within France Telecom Group's Strategic Marketing Division as well as Orange CEOs in AMEA region.
“We feel proud to have been chosen by France Telecom as their debut Technocentre outside Europe. This comes in line with our ambitious plan to change from functioning as a network access to becoming a vital access to leading services. Furthermore, this Technocentre will create an exposure for Jordan internationally in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision in transforming the Kingdom into a leading telecom hub,” Mr. Ghossein said. “We are also confident of the resources we have, whether the advanced technology we use or our well-trained staff,” Mr. Ghossein added.
The Technocentre in Jordan, which is located at Orange Jordan’s headquarters, will introduce a number of innovative services and products to the local market such as voice services; colored ringback tones/dandanah, voice SMS and multiplay Voice over IP or callers notification. Moreover, the department will be providing broadband offers and services as it will be working on developing broadband access through the best and most suitable technology. Technocentre will be also developing a set of new portal based services (WAP, USSD OR WEB) and multimedia usage such as instant messaging and mobile payment. Sohos and SMEs will be as well benefiting from the Technocentre which will deliver segmented innovations with distinctive features for those entities, such as business Livebox and fleet management.
“The geographical position and economical environment Jordan is renowned for, made France Telecom choose it as the first country outside Europe to host its Technocentre,” Mr. Rennard said. He went on saying that Jordan’s in depth understanding of AMEA issues and needs was as well a major factor in setting up the department in the 5.5 million population country.
The newly opened Technocentre now joins France Telecom-Orange’s international network of 18 Orange labs, which bring together researchers, marketing specialists and network engineers with the aim of designing and marketing new products for the entire France Telecom-Orange affiliates.
For his part, Mr. Penalver said: “The ICT sector in Jordan has significantly developed in the past years, becoming fully-enabled to embrace high technological centres and departments. The Technocentre in Jordan will give the Kingdom and AMEA region the opportunity to enjoy genuine ground-breaking services within the least possible timeframe, best cost and top quality”.
The Technocentre in Jordan is an effective organization that is considered as the catalyst of France Telecom-Orange exclusive offers. In introducing new products and services, the department works depending on the “3 Partners” culture, which includes the “Marketing Partner Team” that leads the product global development and the “Development Partner Team” that leads the product technical development as well as the “Implementation Partner Team” that leads the product integration to the network.
“Opening the Technocentre in Jordan is a prominent step that underlines the strong and growing bilateral relations between France and Jordan,” Dr. Ammari pointed out. “This step is a distinctive mark for Orange Jordan and the Kingdom. It is a visible proof of our leading and pioneering role as a telecom operator that exceeds the boarders of the Kingdom to reach out to the region as a whole”.
According to France Telecom-Orange’s strategy, launching a Technocentre department in a country that is geographically closer to emerging markets will reduce the time needed to provide different added value services to the AMEA countries. It will also cater to the needs of these countries for different services whenever needed.
Jordan Telecom Group’s vision is to give its customers a new telecom experience through developing convergent offers.
