Long-distance services in Russia from Orange in 2016

November 10, 2015

Orange, the main brand of France Telecom, has been awarded dialling codes to provide domestic and international long-distance services in the fast-growing Russian telecoms market. This represents the final step before the granting of a full licence that will allow the operator to begin providing voice and data services.

Orange Business Services will be the first global player to enter the Russian market, and plans to start providing the services to corporate clients at the beginning of 2016. The company has invested $200m in the development of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network over the last two years that has been switched to Russian operators’ networks.

In addition to Rostelekom, there are three smaller operators in the long-distance and international phone calls market in Russia.

Orange Business Services has had a Russian presence since 1958 and currently has 800 employees in Russia, serving 4,000 business customers across all 85 regions of the country.

It is understood that, even though Orange has become the first international operator to be granted permission to operate long-distance services in Russia, the company currently does not intend to complement its service offering by applying for a mobile licence.