Orange and La Poste partner to give a second life to network equipment used during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2024--

Orange and La Poste announce the first innovative initiative to extend the lifespan of network equipment used during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This collaboration aligns with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies of both companies, aimed at minimising the environmental impact of digital technology. It is also a key aspect of the Paris 2024 legacy, which focuses on repurposing equipment for other sites and uses after the Olympic Games.

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A large-scale, responsible approach
Several thousand Wi-Fi terminals and other advanced telecom equipment used at the Olympic and Paralympic sites will be reused by La Poste at key locations in Paris and other local communities. For instance, the Maison de l’Innovation in Nantes, set to house over 800 IT professionals from La Poste, will benefit from this next-generation equipment. These devices have been used for only a short period of time and have been thoroughly verified to ensure performance, availability, and durability.

These modern devices will improve the network’s operational efficiency for La Poste employees, providing better connectivity and a high level of service both indoors and outdoors. The integration of this equipment will also play a crucial role in supporting digitalisation and new uses, facilitating smoother operations of IT tools.

Shared ambitious commitments
Orange and La Poste share a common vision and are actively committed to adopting more responsible and sustainable practices. The initiative to extend the lifespan of telecom equipment has already been successfully implemented on Orange infrastructure for La Poste. This latest initiative demonstrates the commitment of both companies to accelerate their CSR objectives and raise awareness within the ecosystem to reduce carbon footprints and make informed choices.

Orange and La Poste share the same net-zero carbon goal by 2040. Both companies have established more responsible practices to purchase circuits, particularly in IT environments. Orange offers eco-designed products and second-hand network equipment to its consumer and business customers. Meanwhile, La Poste, as a mission-driven company, is committed to ethical, inclusive, and economical digital practices. It has also adopted a responsible digital policy aimed at optimising the use of natural and non-renewable resources. This policy focuses on extending the lifespan of its IT equipment through repair and reuse.

“In the face of scarce resources and the increasing digitalisation of services, La Poste Group is committed to reducing the environmental footprint of its tools and applications. The reuse of network equipment deployed by Orange for the Olympic Games is an opportunity that perfectly aligns with our desire to promote responsible digital practices,” says Philippe Bajou, Secretary General of the La Poste Group and President of La Poste Group Immobilier.

“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 have been a unique opportunity to showcase our technical expertise and a true demonstration of the solutions offered to our business clients. I am proud that this top-quality equipment finds a second life with La Poste. This partnership illustrates our commitment to a sustainable and connected future. At Orange Business, we are dedicated to helping our clients and partners in their environmental transition and reducing their carbon footprint,” adds Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, CEO of Orange Business.

About Orange
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with revenues of 39.7 billion euros in 2023 and 128,000 employees worldwide at 30 September 2024, including 71,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 292 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2024, including 253 million mobile customers and 22 million fixed broadband customers. These figures have been restated to account for the deconsolidation of certain activities in Spain following the creation of MASORANGE. The Group is present in 26 countries (including non-consolidated countries).

Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies under the brand Orange Business. In February 2023, the Group presented its strategic plan "Lead the Future", built on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency. "Lead the Future" capitalizes on network excellence to reinforce Orange's leadership in service quality.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com and the Orange News app or to follow us on X: @orangegrouppr.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.

About La Poste Group
La Poste is a public limited company, a subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts and the State. The La Poste Group is organized into four branches: Mail and Parcel Services, Public and Digital Services, Geopost, and La Banque Postale, which, along with its subsidiary CNP Assurances, is the 11th largest bancassurer in the Eurozone. The La Poste Group carries out four public service missions that shape its identity: universal postal service, regional development, banking accessibility, and the transport and distribution of the press. Committed to its territorial presence, the La Poste Group relies on its extensive network of human and digital proximity services, the largest in France. This network consists of 37,300 service points, including 17,700 contact points (post offices, municipal postal agencies, merchant post relay points) and nearly 19,600 access points for postal services (Pickup relays and lockers, Professional Spaces). La Poste delivers over 15 billion items worldwide each year (letters, advertising mail, and parcels), six days a week. In 2023, the group achieved a revenue of €34.1 billion, with 44% coming from international operations, and employs 233,000 employees in more than 60 countries across five continents, including over 179,000 in France. As part of its strategic plan "La Poste 2030, committed to you," the public company aims for profitable and responsible growth in France and internationally, relying on a robust multi-activity model. A mission-driven company since 2021, a leader in ecological transition and sustainable finance, the group aims for "net zero emissions" by 2040.

This collaboration aligns with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies of both companies, aimed at minimising the environmental impact of digital technology (Photo credit: Orange Business Services)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin legislator has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in connection with a bitter feud with her caucus over resolutions honoring Hispanics.

Prosecutors in Milwaukee County charged state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez in February. Online court records show the Milwaukee Democrat entered the guilty plea Friday, and Judge Paul Malloy ordered her to pay a $300 fine and submit a DNA sample. She could have faced up to 90 days in jail.

Ortiz-Velez said in a statement after the sentencing that she will pay the fine and remains focused on her constituents, not caucus infighting.

“My voting choices caused a rift that has been ugly and bitter,” she said. “My constituents did not send me to Madison to litigate internal caucus disputes or be distracted by the personal feuds — they sent me there to deliver results.”

A spokesperson from Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Greta Neubauer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

According to the criminal complaint, the feud began in August as Democratic members of the state Assembly were planning resolutions honoring Hispanic heritage and Hispanic veterans in observance of Hispanic Heritage Month in September.

Ortiz-Velez grew angry because she believed an unnamed lawmaker drafting the heritage resolution had intentionally excluded her from working on it.

The complaint states that she had been invited to work on the resolution in June and chose not to participate but still wanted to help draft the language. She contacted media outlets saying she had been intentionally left out of the resolution work. She also told the resolution's author that she felt excluded from working on another resolution that same legislator was crafting honoring Hispanic veterans, saying her late husband was a Hispanic veteran.

Two more unnamed lawmakers told investigators that Ortiz-Velez told them in separate phone conversations that she was going to spread “negative personal information” about the resolutions’ author to the media and that “they are going to do what I want them to do, or I’m going to x, y and z," according to the complaint.

When one of the lawmakers asked her what that meant, she made comments about the resolutions’ author’s personal life and other legislators. The complaint characterized those remarks as “indecent and tended to disrupt the good public order" but does not elaborate or offer any more specificity.

Democratic leaders issued a statement in September saying Ortiz-Velez had made a comment about shooting three caucus members. That statement came a day after another statement announcing that Ortiz-Velez was leaving the Democratic caucus.

In interviews with the news website Wisconsin Right Now and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Ortiz-Velez denied that she threatened her colleagues. But the Legislature's human resources office barred her from entering the state Capitol for a day. A spokesperson for Assembly Republican Speaker Robin Vos said at the time that she shouldn't have been banned.

Ortiz-Velez's attorney, Michael Cernin, said in a telephone interview Friday that Assembly Democrats were already upset with Ortiz-Velez going into September because she had voted for the 2025-27 state budget and for new legislative maps Democratic Gov. Tony Evers drew up in 2024. Democrats opposed the spending plan in part because they felt it doesn't adequately fund public schools and argued the state Supreme Court should have drawn the new legislative maps.

Rep. Priscilla Prado, another Milwaukee Democrat, wouldn't allow Ortiz-Velez to participate in the Hispanic resolutions, he said. Two of the lawmakers who went unnamed in the complaint made allegations to investigators that Ortiz-Velez had threatened to expose unsavory elements of Prado's personal life to the media, he said.

“It’s incredibly petty, and Sylvia didn’t want any part of this,” Cernin said. “Sylvia truly wanted to spare Prado any sort of embarrassment on this.”

No one immediately responded to messages left with Prado’s Capitol’s office seeking comment on Friday afternoon.

FILE - A man walks by the Wisconsin state Capitol, Oct. 10, 2012, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)