Orange leader steps down

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Orange has announced that Sanjiv Ahuja is quitting his role as chief executive of the company to pursue other activities within the business.

His shoes will be filled in part by Olaf Swantee, currently HP's senior vice president for enterprise sales and software in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who will take up Ahuja's previous job as enterprise vice president of personal communications services, but it is still unclear as yet who will take over at the helm.

News of Ahuja's decision to step down, but remain chairman of Orange UK, came as parent company France Telecom released results for its first quarter ending March 31, reporting healthy revenue of €12.84 billion.

Feeling that his work is done in integrating the Orange business with the rest of the group and helping to more than double the company's mobile subscriber base from 48 million to more than 100 million in the process, Ahuja now plans to "pursue a series of new ventures."

One such venture will involve working with France Telecom to target emerging markets.

"After four great years with Orange, the time is now right for me to move ahead with a series of new ventures with the aim of exploring some of the fascinating opportunities that I believe this sector still holds," he said.

"I'm also delighted to be maintaining my links with France Telecom in this context and I'd like to take this opportunity to pay a particular tribute to Didier Lombard whose vision of an integrated future for France Telecom has underpinned everything we've achieved over these past four years. I wish him and all my colleagues, success for the future, with every expectation that they will take Orange from its current position of strength to continued success."

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