satellites

France Telecom - Orange uses satellite communications to provide several services:

connection of the French overseas departments to the general network. These connections are either main links where there is no submarine cable (Mayotte), or lines for security or absorption of additional traffic that supplements the cable (Reunion);
IP or voice links to other operators.
VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) services for Orange Business Services’ onshore or offshore Business customers. There were around 1,000 customer sites in operation at the end of 2009. These services are accessible via “earth stations” (or teleports) that France Telecom operates in France (Bercenay-en-Othe) or in the French overseas departments. France Telecom also uses the services of five other teleports in Europe and the Asia-Pacific
region to increase its geographic coverage.

To provide these services, France Telecom uses capacity available on its satellites (Telecom 2D essentially for traffic with the French overseas departments) or spatial capacity rented from satellite operators (Eutelsat, Intelsat, and NSS).

Satellites are also used to provide fixed broadband access in areas where access is difficult, such as remote mountain areas. They also allow the Group to provide its ADSL customers with the Orange TV service in areas where ADSL is available but with insufficient bandwidth for television.