At the time of its launch, in April 1994, Orange was the fourth entrant into an already crowded UK mobile phone market, with an ambitious aim: to become the mobile provider of choice by making communications an intuitive and easily accessible part of daily life. For everyone. To succeed, it had to establish itself as radically different.
In April 1996 Orange plc shares (at 205p each) were listed on the London and Nasdaq markets, its initial public offering being ten times oversubscribed. In June 1996 Orange plc became the youngest company to enter the FTSE-100, and was valued at £2.4 billion.
By July 1997 Orange had gained 1 million customers. It also had the lowest churn rate, better margins than its competitors, and top ratings for customer satisfaction. In June 1999 Orange received The NatWest/Sunday Times Business Enterprise Award, which described the Orange story as one of courageous vision and commitment to the long-running potential of mobile telecoms. © 2007 Orange