Statoil Signs 9.3 Million Euro ICT Contract with Orange Business Services

Business Wire, June 13, 2007

PARIS & OSLO -- The Norwegian state oil corporation Statoil ASA has chosen Orange Business Services to deliver network infrastructure and manage its extensive international IP network. The 3-year, 9.3 million euro agreement includes 40 sites in 23 countries worldwide.

Orange Business Services has once again gained Statoil's confidence after having had the full responsibility of operating and servicing Statoil's international IT network since 1999. The new contract resulted from an open, comprehensive tender competition, in which all market players took part. The contract includes an annual renewal option for three additional years.

The upgraded network, which will handle both data and telephony and include full operation, support and maintenance of the infrastructure, has very strict requirements for uptime and performance. To minimize time delays in data communication with critical applications, the technical solution is based on land-based Ethernet and fiber, in contrast to satellite. Orange Business Services is able to meet this challenge in many developing countries where Statoil and other demanding international corporations operate.

"Orange Business Services is covering most of our offices and has a solid and robust infrastructure with a high degree of uptime," said Ole Petter Drange, head of Infrastructure at Statoil. "Over many years, Orange Business Services has proven capable of delivering according to our requirements, and we also clearly expect delivery times for new connections to be minimized."

"It's a big recognition once again to achieve the confidence of a demanding customer like Statoil," said John Conlan, Nordics general manager, Orange Business Services. "Orange Business Services is definitely very competitive in ICT deliveries to large international and complex enterprises -- and Statoil sees the quality in this. This proves that our strategy to be a leader in global ICT deliveries is working well."

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services represents the business communications solutions and services provided by the France Telecom Group as of June 1, 2006. They were previously sold under the France Telecom, Orange, Equant, Etrali, Almerys, EGT, Expertel Consulting, France Telecom Intelmatique, SETIB and Solicia brands.

The offers include converged voice, data and mobile services as well as IT expertise and managed services, all designed to transform business processes and improve productivity. Orange Business Services is present in 166 countries and territories and serves customers in 220.

www.orange-business.com