Belgium's Mobistar to rebrand as Orange
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Belgium's Mobistar to rebrand as Orange

Belgian operator Mobistar, which is 53% owned by the French group Orange, is to rebrand itself as Orange, 15 years after the name was dropped by KPN subsidiary.

.The decision will bring the Orange name back to Belgium nearly 15 years after Dutch operator KPN dropped the brand for its mobile business in the country. What was then KPN Orange used the name for a few years from 1999 under licence from Hutchison, which then owned Orange UK, the original Orange.


Jan Steyaert, president of Mobistar’s board of directors, said: “The adoption of a major international brand such as Orange will enable the company to continue to energise the Belgian market for the benefit of its consumers. That is why our board of directors voted wholeheartedly and unanimously in favour of the brand change, which will allow Mobistar to continue its development under the Orange brand.”

KPN changed the name of its Belgian operation to Base after France Telecom acquired Orange UK and began the process of adopting Orange as its name for all worldwide operations. Cable operator Telenet bought Base from KPN in 2015.

Mobistar CEO Jean-Marc Harion said: “In the business market, the rebranding will help to reconfirm our leadership in international services in the domain of machine-to-machine and the internet of things.”

The company has given no date for the change. Mobistar’s Luxembourg operation, formerly Vox Mobile, has already been renamed Orange. Werner De Laet, CEO of Orange Luxembourg, said that the adoption of the Orange brand by Mobistar will reinforce the positioning of the Orange brand on the Belgium and Luxembourg markets. “Better synergies will therefore enhance the introduction and improvements of new services on the Luxembourgish market.” 

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