Orange and OPPO announce European co-innovation partnership to pioneer open market device personalisation and lead eSIM growth

● Orange and OPPO co-innovate to deliver Orange experiences on new smartphones and wearables in Europe

● With an increasing number of sim-free devices and eSIM wearables sold on the open market, Orange and OPPO pioneer over-the-air provisioning to deliver unique Orange experiences to customers who purchase SIM-free smartphones

October 15, 2020, SHENZHEN, CHINA – Orange and OPPO today announced a co-innovation partnership agreement that will help to deliver Orange services to a broad range of OPPO’s smartphones and IoT devices to Europe, with a view to extending this further across the Orange footprint.

A primary goal of the partnership is to create innovative solutions jointly to meet the evolving needs from consumers. The growing adoption of sim-free and eSIM (embedded SIM) devices has created new channels for today’s consumers, allowing them to choose where and from whom they purchase new devices, such as physical retailers and e-retailers in the open market. This partnership will significantly simplify and improve the customer journey and experience for consumers, enabling them to access Orange services more smoothly and effortlessly.

The availability of 5G will also create more ways for consumers to connect and presents new opportunities for the industry. OPPO has launched several key IoT products beyond smartphones such as the OPPO Watch, and has assembled a team of experts to develop leading solutions with its partners. OPPO works closely with them to create solutions that make it easier to access operator services while adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the mobile industry, such as the growing open market segment. The combination of OPPO’s vision and technical capability with Orange’s extensive network and customer experience ideally enables both parties to design new and pioneering solutions to address these specific market needs.

Personalisation of Open Market Devices
In Q1 2020, Orange noted a 4.6% quarter-on-quarter increase of Android™ devices from the open market connecting to the Orange European network. The personalisation of open market devices is an Orange innovation and is activated upon detection of an Orange SIM card on a smartphone. This enables Orange to use OPPO’s over-the-air provisioning service to seamlessly load Orange services like My Orange/Orange et Moi or Orange TV, giving customers immediate, easy access to key services unique to Orange and thus greatly improving the experience for customers.

Orange personalisation will launch on OPPO’s open market variants, ranged by Orange across Europe from October 2020, including two new 5G devices - the Reno 4 Z 5G and Reno4 Pro 5G, as well as OPPO’s 4G smartphone, the OPPO A72. More details will be provided by Orange countries later this year.

New eSIM smartwatch by OPPO makes it easier for Orange customers to connect to multi-SIM offers
Orange and OPPO are also jointly working to launch a new eSIM smartwatch that will deliver an even more advanced user interface on Wear OS by Google™ that fits the first rectangular Dual-Curved Edge AMOLED display, which is a stylish 46mm eSIM smartwatch.

Orange became the first operator worldwide to remotely connect and activate an eSIM with On Device Service Activation on Wear OS by Google, part of Orange’s multi-SIM strategy that helps Orange customers to easily connect their smartphones and wearables to one phone number. Within the Orange European footprint, eSIM smartwatch sales have grown by 80% YoY in volume, accounting for 30% of the volume and half of smartwatch revenues in our European footprint.

Alen Wu, Vice President and President of Global Sales, OPPO said: “Over the years, OPPO has evolved into more than a smartphone company as we expand our offerings to IoT products and co-develop leading technology solutions for our industry partners. We are glad to see the co-innovation partnership with Orange unlocking great potential both in the wearable and the open market space in Europe, and we look forward to exploring further opportunities in the future.”

Philippe Lucas, EVP, Customer Equipment & Partnerships at Orange, said: “With the Orange personalisation, customers can get access to the full suite of Orange services whether they purchase their OPPO devices from Orange channels or the open market. This partnership with OPPO fulfils our local markets’ need for new and feature-rich smartphones and wearables, and enables Orange to deliver an unmatched customer experience.”

About Orange
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 42 billion euros in 2019 and 143,000 employees worldwide at 30 June 2020, including 84,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 253 million customers worldwide at 30 June 2020, including 208 million mobile customers and 21million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In December 2019, the Group presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com or to follow on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.

About OPPO
OPPO is a leading global smart device brand. Since the launch of its first mobile phone - “Smiley Face” - in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO provides its users with the ColorOS operating system and internet services like OPPO Cloud and OPPO+. OPPO operates in more than 40 countries and regions, with 6 Research Institutes and 4 R&D Centers worldwide, as well as an International Design Center in London. More than 40,000 of OPPO's employees are dedicated to creating a better life for customers around the world.

Google
Google, Android, Wear OS by Google and other marks are trademarks of Google LLC. Wear OS by Google works with phones running Android 6.0+ (excluding Go edition) or iOS 12.0+. Supported features may vary between platforms and countries.