Proud to keep you connected during the end of year period

28 December 2022

Welcome to the beating heart of the Orange network: our supervision management center room. This is where we are continuously monitoring our networks to ensure best-in-class service for our customers. But what happens when everyone is sending their end-of-year wishes at the same time? Our colleagues Sylvianne and Francisco love to tell you more about their work during the ho-ho-holidays!

Watch this video or read the full interview below. 

Hi, we are Sylvianne and Francisco. We work in the operational network department, where we are part of the business continuity and crisis management team.

It is our mission to ensure the best-in-class services to our customers with an operational excellence approach.

There is a very steep peak in data usage at Christmas’ and New Year’s Eve, which typically has a duration of 30 minutes. If we compare this to a big soccer match, where the peak lasts for about four hours, it’s different. This does not mean that the match is less important, it means that everything needs to be done quicker during the end of year events.

Therefore, our IT and network partners are closely monitoring our network and services in order to be more reactive when needed.

Every year, we review and share our end of year plan to assure business continuity with our stakeholders. The goal of this plan is not to implement extra network capacity, but to mitigate anything which could create a snowball effect.

This plan has existed since 2003. It was an initiative from our first CEO. The main goal was then to allow our customers to send an SMS at midnight and be able to call for a cab after the party. Of course, today, SMS is no longer the first media used. The greetings are now sent over the network using mobile data, but our goal remains the same: to maintain the best customer experience possible.

The plan is not only used during the end of year period, but also in other situations, such as the bombing in Brussels on 22 March 2016. Thanks to our plan, the Orange network did not collapse, and we were congratulated by the authorities for our excellent service.