Orange, with Mobinil, launches high-definition voice services for mobile phones in Cairo

Orange has confirmed its leadership in high-definition sound mobile telephone services with the imminent launch of the service in Cairo on Mobinil’s network. Following on from the world premier launch in Moldova in September 2009, this is the first time high-definition voice for mobile phones has been launched in Africa and the Middle East. The Group has already introduced the service to the markets in Moldova, Armenia, Belgium, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The service will provide customers of Egypt’s leading mobile operator, Mobinil, with an enhanced experience thanks to significantly improved quality of voice. The handsets integrate the new WB-AMR technology, which is widely expected within the industry to become a new standard for mobile voice communications.

Mobinil customers using this device in Cairo will benefit from the best possible sound quality allowing for a much richer and natural sound that is capable of conveying emotion significantly better than an ordinary handset. Background noise is also faded out to provide clearer voice conversations creating a feeling of proximity between both parties.

Yves Tyrode, Executive Vice President of the Orange Technocentre, said "high-definition voice is clearly the future standard for mobile communications and is set to vastly improve user experience over the coming years. This is the first time since the advent of the GSM standard that a new technology is enabling such a dramatic improvement to the voice experience. Whether with friends and family, or with business partners, the ability to talk freely and easily using a mobile phone lies is a fundamental necessity for all of our customers. We firmly believe that this new technology should be available for everyone, which is why we are working hard to make it a reality across our entire footprint. We are very happy that Mobinil's customers in Cairo will be the first to benefit in Africa and the Middle East”. 

Hassan Kabbani, CEO of Mobinil, said "we are very proud to bring this service to Mobinil’s customers thanks to the mutual and close collaboration between our teams and the Orange group's teams across the world to develop the advanced technology that makes this service possible. In addition, the launch of this premium service was made possible thanks to the high quality of our 3G network, which already offers coverage for most of the population and benefits from upgraded data communication speeds".

Orange plans to rapidly extend the range of HD voice-compatible mobile handsets and introduce HD voice services to the majority of countries across its footprint by the end of 2011. The Group believes that these handsets will represent the majority of the 3G handsets sold within five years.

A strong player in the Egyptian market

France Telecom-Orange has been present in Egypt since 1998. As a partner with Orascom Telecom, the Group is major shareholder of the country's leading mobile operator Mobinil and it plays an important role in Mobinil’s development. As of 30 September 2010, Mobinil had a mobile customer base of over 28.4 million mobile customers. In addition to mobile services, Mobinil also operates the second largest Internet Service Provider LinkDotNet. The France Telecom-Orange group has also built up a major R&D presence in Cairo with its Orange Labs facility, and also operates one of its main network service centers for Orange Business Services from the country.

For more information and demonstrations on HD voice, visit: www.orange.com/hdvoice.