Orange Wholesale is undergoing an important shift in its networks, according to company EVP and CEO, Michaël Trabbia.

The company is undergoing a new corporate strategy plan, with a strong focus on network resiliency. It realised it needs services like satellite alongside its more traditional services. Speaking with Capacity in March, Trabbia shared how Orange is working to adapt to growing geopolitical, cyber, regulatory and climate threats.

“Our ambition is to bring connectivity to every customer, everywhere, all the time,” Trabbia explained. “That means our focus is on resilience.”

He added: “Bringing connectivity to everyone means we first have to include all the technologies we can. It’s important for us that there is a diversity of players in satellite.”

Unlocking a new dimension of connectivity

Trabbia’s comments come during a time of unprecedented demand and uncertainty in the telecoms sector, particularly as Europe continues to face high market competition.

To combat this, Orange is leveraging all its assets – from satellite to data centres – working to reduce carbon footprint and build resilience – and a big part of that is ensuring its infrastructure is secure.

Part of these plans involves its deal with AST SpaceMobile and Satellite Connect Europe (joint venture between AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone) to launch D2D services based on mobile satellite service spectrum in relevant Orange markets. For Trabbia, this could lead to more deals for Orange in this area.

“This is a new dimension of connectivity. We’re bringing on satellite to ensure we can have good connectivity everywhere – and infrastructure diversity, multiple routes and multiple technologies,” he added.

“It’s also about being aware of the cyber threats and geopolitical risk. We take a lot of action to make sure we are in control of our technologies and of our networks.”

Adapting to a changing market

Trabbia didn’t shy away from talking about geopolitics. He explained how Orange is committed to enhancing its resilience and strategic independence. Particularly with the physical risks of subsea and fibre networks, it is a growing task to ensure infrastructure is diverse but also has the ability to “redirect traffic automatically and repair swiftly”.

Trabbia also noted: “We live in an uncertain world. Geopolitics is everywhere and we live that every day.”

He explained: Our ambition is not to be dependent on, from a strategic perspective, on any player. We want to gain our independence and to do that, we must first diversify our partners. It’s important for our networks.”

To build its resilience further, Orange has invested in two cable ships to join its current fleet of six. It is also moving to a fully cloud-based network, relying on 55 cloud PoPs worldwide with its own telco cloud, rather than depending on a partner.

Trabbia explained this gives Orange greater leverage and better support for any disruption. He told us Orange is also harnessing open-source models so it can build its own tools. This is to avoid the current market monopoly and Orange can expand this strategy to ensure what Trabbia described as “strategic independence”.

“20% of our network functions on our international networks are now homemade,” he said. “We wanted to challenge our partners and make sure we pay the right, fair price for the services we get.”

Trust the Future: Redefining strategy and building security

Trabbia shared Orange Wholesale’s 2026-2030 strategic roadmap, Trust the Future, as part of its mission to remain the trusted partner for everyday digital life. As Orange CEO Christel Heydemann has explained, the company will serve “individuals, organisations and communities” by providing “available connectivity” and “digital services”.

Trabbia explained how the plan is based on strong convictions, including that connectivity is “more vital” than ever.

“Everything depends on our network, from payment to transport,” he said. “Trust is our key competitive advantage and, as a telco, we want to leverage that.”

He added: “We have unique assets, including our brand and our infrastructure. It’s not only about domestic fibre or 5G, but it’s about [our] subsea cables too.

“We master all the technological layers needed to bring trusted connectivity to our customers.”

Looking ahead, Orange plans to build more capacity for growth, particularly in the French market. Given demand for AI and data centres within the telco industry, customers inevitably need more space and power – both for public cloud, but also private cloud and colocation – which Orange plans to make available.

The goal, Trabbia explained, is to be the trusted provider for global connectivity.

“We believe that we are going to expand our infrastructure to answer the growing needs of digital,” Trabbia explained. “We all see AI booming everywhere and data centres are being built on a very intense basis, including in Europe.”

He explained how Orange wants to “have a fair return on [its] assets” and “build new assets to support growth,” mutualising infrastructure and key services.

“The value of infrastructure is to share,” he added.

Having recently opened a ground station in Martinique, Orange wants to continue connecting data centres, but also “build the backbones of other telcos”, Trabbia explained.

“We are very active in that field – everything needs to be connected with fibre, which we provide,” he added. “We are a key player in connecting these data centres via dark fibre and subsea cables.

“It’s an important ambition for us to contribute to the increase in traffic and the AI era with our infrastructure.”

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