Orange, Telkom Kenya’s commercial brand today announced a Ksh 13 million deal for the 2009 Orange CECAFA Senior Challenge tournament to be played in Kenya later this month. A further amount will be spent in promoting and broadcasting the event. The event marks the first time in 15 years a major international soccer tournament is being played in Kenya.

The Championship, which is set to be take place between November 28 to December 13th, will be played at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi and Mumias Sports Complex in Mumias town.

Speaking when he announced the deal with Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye, Telkom Kenya Managing Director Mickael Ghossien said that the company had decided to sponsor the tournament as part of its drive to improve the standards of soccer and to give Kenya a chance to host the prominent championship.

As a result of the sponsorship, Orange gets the naming rights to one of most prominent soccer tournaments in Africa. The brand will also provide Internet connection to the journalists covering the tournament from media center at both stadiums.

The announcement comes in the wake of a recent move by the brand to sponsor the major soccer competitions in Africa, namely African Nations Cup, African Champions League, African Confederation Cup, the Super Cup, the African Nations Championship and the African Youth Championship for the next eight years.

Mr. Ghossien said that Orange had also lined up several activities to drive up public awareness for the tournament and ostensibly to change the public perception about local soccer and therefore get them to come in droves to watch the teams play.

Orange will in the coming weeks also announce investments targeted at improving the standards of football in the country. They are currently engaged in talks with football bodies, clubs and the government on the direction it will take.

For many years, Orange has been a leading player in the development of African football and is active in numerous African countries in the fixed, mobile and internet markets. Orange is already a sponsor of the national teams of Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Guinea and Botswana. Orange is also heavily involved in local sponsorship of football and youth activities.

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About Telkom Kenya
Telkom Kenya is committed to providing innovative, accessible and refreshingly simple communications solutions to its customers.

With fixed network, wireless, data, mobile and internet services, Telkom Kenya is the only truly integrated telecommunication solutions provider in the country. Orange Mobile, Orange Fixed Plus and Orange Broadband are Telkom Kenya’s GSM, wireless and internet services provided under its commercial brand, ‘Orange’. The national fixed line service, Telkom Fixed, is provided under the Telkom Kenya brand.
Established in 1999 as the nation’s original telecommunications provider, Telkom Kenya continues to have the largest footprint across the country enabling more people to connect, create and come together to achieve more.

For more information please visit www.telkom.co.ke, www.orange.co.ke

About Orange

Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With 123 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of 2008, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion euros (12.7 billion euros for the first quarter of 2009) and at 29 April 2009, the Group had a customer base of almost 184 million customers in 30 countries. These include 123 million mobile customers worldwide and 13 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers in Europe. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
The Group's strategy, which is characterized by a strong focus on innovation, convergence and effective cost management, aims to establish Orange as an integrated operator and benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. Today the Group remains focused on its core activities as a network operator, while working to develop its position in new growth activities. To meet customer expectations, the Group strives to provide products and services that are simple and user-friendly, while maintaining a sustainable and responsible business model that can be adapted to the requirements of a fast-paced and changing eco-system.

France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange

For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.