Telco group Orange and infrastructure investor Morrison plan to create a new jointly controlled data centre company located in France.
It will be a 50/50 joint venture with the intention of boosting Orange’s existing French data centre portfolio, targeting capacity of 400 MW, which is nearly ten times its current capacity.
It’s described as a contemplated transaction, which would involve Orange contributing five data centres across four campuses in France (Chevilly-Larue, Aubervilliers, Chartres and Val-de-Reuil) to the joint venture. Morrison would commit equity to support the growth of the platform, which would be supported by an investment programme of €3 billion.
The team up “would enable both shareholders to combine their industrial and commercial expertise to accelerate the rollout of new capacity and meet the growing market demand,” states the release.
There’s a sovereign angle to the deal, we’re told that Orange and Morrison would contribute to positioning France as a leading location for digital infrastructure, offering solutions tailored to AI and cloud firms operated within France. There is also a sustainability angle, in that it would apparently benefit from some of the most decarbonized electricity in Europe.
Orange’s platforms and services would continue to be hosted in the joint venture’s data centres, with Orange retaining operational control over the areas allocated to its operations. “This would ensure for Orange and Orange Business customers a level of security and availability for hosted systems and related data that meets the most stringent national and European standards,” we’re told.
“We are absolutely convinced that France will need sovereign, trusted digital infrastructure if it is to rise to the challenge of surging demand driven by cloud and artificial intelligence,” said Christel Heydemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group.
“This contemplated joint venture with Morrison, will allow us to unlock the value of our existing assets and strengthening our position in data centres. Together with a partner recognised for its expertise and investment capacity, we will accelerate the deployment of the capacity that the market needs. This is fully aligned with our “Trust the future” strategy: making trust a real competitive advantage and accelerating our growth in trusted digital solutions for businesses.”
William Smales, Chief Investment Officer, Morrison added: "Europe's digital future will require significant new investment in trusted infrastructure capable of supporting the growth of cloud services, artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications. Together with Orange, we are contemplating the creation of a platform that combines strategic infrastructure assets, operational expertise and long-term capital to meet that challenge. We believe France is exceptionally well positioned to play a leading role in Europe's digital economy, and this partnership represents an important step towards building the sovereign infrastructure needed to support future growth and competitiveness."
The transaction is expected to be signed by the end of this year, and closed in the first quarter of 2027, subject to various approvals.
Last month, Orange launched some initiatives designed to bolster domestic French companies, also with the goal of digital sovereignty.
This involves the operator increasing direct procurement from French start-ups with the intention of identifying innovations that it can use in its operations, helping start-ups gain exposure to both public and private-sector customers, and including a wider selection of French start-up solutions in its B2B service catalogue.
Source: https://www.telecoms.com/operator-ecosystem/orange-plans-data-centre-joint-venture-with-morrison
