Sanjiv Ahuja commented: "My years with Orange have been among the most exciting and fulfilling of my career. Right from the first phase in which we completed the full integration of Orange with France Telecom, it has been my privilege to work with an incredibly talented team across the entire Group that has effectively blazed a trail for the industry with the integration of all our businesses. After four great years with Orange, the time is now right for me to move ahead with a series of new ventures with the aim of exploring some of the fascinating opportunities that I believe this sector still holds. I'm also delighted to be maintaining my links with France Telecom in this context and I'd like to take this opportunity to pay a particular tribute to Didier Lombard whose vision of an integrated future for France Telecom has underpinned everything we've achieved over these past four years. I wish him and all my colleagues, success for the future, with every expectation that they will take Orange from its current position of strength to continued success."

Didier Lombard, Chairman and CEO of France Telecom, commented: "Our sincere thanks go to Sanjiv who has brought his unique knowledge of the industry and a truly global perspective to his time at the head of Orange SA. His contribution to the success of the Group during this period speaks for itself and that is in no small part down to Sanjiv's work in creating the conditions for the smooth and efficient integration of Orange SA with the France Telecom Group and then a successful extension of the brand across all our services. This means that today our Group can provide the full range of integrated services our customers require, under a single and even more powerful Orange brand. Along with our thanks, of course, we wish him all the best with his new ventures."

Olaf Swantee will join the company as Executive Vice President in charge of Personal Communication Services , UK and Europe/Middle East operations*. He will also join the Group Management Committee. Olaf Swantee is currently Senior Vice President at Hewlett-Packard responsible for enterprise sales and software in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He has 17 years of international experience in the IT industry.

Didier Lombard added: "We are delighted to welcome our new colleague Olaf, his management skills and extensive experience in the international IT field will obviously be of tremendous benefit to our business and its customers."

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