Tech Crunch reports that Orange has acquired remaining 51 percent stake of Dailymotion for $168 million. Two years ago, Orange acquired 49 percent of Dailymotion for $78 million. Read More

France Telecom-Orange and Publicis Groupe are launching a new venture capital fund, committing about $270 million to finance and develop digital technology, content and services. The two sponsors intend other investors to join them to double the available amount. Read More

Paris - French mobile network operators Orange, Bouygues and SFR announced this week that they are teaming with technology firm Atos Origin on a mobile payments joint venture.

Positioned as a rival to PayPal and Google Checkout, the Buyster service will handle both mobile and Web-based payments for the mobile providers’ combined 50 million customers when it launches in France in mid-2011.

The companies said the Buyster service has already attracted e-commerce support from Aquarelle, Brandalley, Darty and Rue du Commerce.

Related Links:

http://www.orange.com/en_EN/press/press_releases/cp110203en.jsp

Paris - French telecom Orange said on Tuesday that it has paid $80 million for a 49% stake in Dailymotion, the second-largest Web video site behind YouTube.

The six-year-old video site now serves 1 billion videos monthly to 93 million unique visitors.

"Although we are no longer publishers ourselves, we are strengthening our position in the fields of aggregation and distribution," said Orange CEO Stephane Richard.

"We will provide our customers with an enriched and innovative video offer combining Dailymotion’s know-how and diversity of content with the quality [...].

Cannes, France - French streaming music service Deezer now counts over 500,000 paying subscribers to the premium version of its service, Music Ally reported. The company last year signed a deal with French telecom Orange, to bundle the Deezer service in some Internet and mobile service packages. The service counts a total of some 15 million users, across its various free, ad-supported and paid offerings.

Related Links:

http://tinyurl.com/5s4xm8d

(Music Ally)

http://www.deezer.com

Paris - France-based streaming music service Deezer has partnered with mobile network operator Orange, which will bundle the company’s premium streaming service with some of its Internet and mobile service packages. Deezer’s service normally costs about $6.43 per month, or $12.87 for a version that includes mobile access.  

Related Links:

http://tinyurl.com/2fpdwwr

(Billboard)

http://www.deezer.com

London - U.K. mobile operator O2 sold 30,000 Apple (NASD: AAPL) iPhones on their first day on sale in the country, a company spokesman announced on Twitter. "Orange UK had sold more than 30k iPhones, smashing what we believe is the previously published first day sales records for a phone in the UK!," tweeted Orange’s Conor Maples.

Related Links:

http://twitter.com/conorfromorange

http://mashable.com/2009/11/12/orange-uk-30000-iphones/