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By Lisa Burroughes, 8 January 2001 12:00

NEWS The telco will offer up to 15 per cent of the new Orange, which includes all of France Telecom's global wireless assets, bought for E40bn (£25bn) in May last year. A bond will also be issued, expected to add as much as a third to the size of the total offering. Michael Bon, chairman of France Telecom, said on Monday that Orange is likely to be valued on flotation at between E70bn and E80bn (£44bn and £51bn). Orange was forced to abandon plans for flotation due to poor market conditions last year. But Paulo Pescatore, analyst at telecoms consultancy Ovum, pointed out that, like France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and BT will be forced to consider flotation this year to cover debts. He said: "A number of telcos are grouping their wireless operations together with a view to flotation this year to recoup the money paid for 3G licences." Pescatore said he believes the other companies are waiting in the wings to see how successful Orange's flotation turns out to be. He said he is confident the telco will do well: "Orange is in a good position because it has the impetus to compete as a global operator and has a strong brand." The mobile company now operates in 19 countries and claims to have a customer base of around 30 million. In the UK alone, Orange had topped nine million users by the end of last year. The full prospectus is planned for late January 2001.