Richard Moat could leave Orange

“Orange appoints the CEOs of its branches for two-year terms, usually renewable for a further two years. Mr. Moat is already in his second term at the head of Orange, but we do not know whether or not he will extend this. We will find out in September. No decision has yet been made in this respect,” according to a statement for Business Standard by Amalia Fodor, PR Manager.

Richard Moat was appointed to his present position on 14 September 2004, for a two-year term, extended in 2006. Upon graduating from Cambridge University in 1973, Moat began his career with the prestigious Lloyd’s financial group. Moat has been working for the Orange group since 1992, in 2002 becoming CEO of Orange Denmark, which he managed to move from fifth place to third on the Danish mobile telephone market, with a 12 percent market share.

At the end of 2004, Orange Romania reported 4.93 million users, turnover worth €624 million, and gross profit at €335 mln (53.7 percent), according to a presentation by the Executive Vice President of Orange International, Brigitte Bourgoin, posted on the France Telecom site. The operator does not usually officially announce its profit margin. Three years later, Orange announced 9.813 million users (99 percent increase compared to 2004) and turnover of €1,234 bln (97.7 percent compared to 2004). By the end of last year, according to France Telecom estimates, Orange Romania had a 43.2 percent market share.

Orange competitors in Romania are Vodafone Romania, with 8.8 million users, and Cosmote Romania, with over 3 million users and revenue reported as of 30 September 2007 of €105.2 mln.