Orange Group’s chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard has decided to appoint Michaël Trabbia, currently the CEO of Orange Belgium, the CTIO of Orange Group.
Trabbia has had a 20-year career in the public and private telecom environment and will take up his new position on September 1.
Commenting on the appointment, Ramon Fernandez, delegate CEO of the Orange Group, said: “In the name of the Orange Group, I want to warmly thank Michaël for his decisive action at the head of Orange Belgium. Under his leading, Orange Belgium reached new major steps, thanks notably to its ‘Bold challenger’ strategy. I applaud Michaël for his promotion and look forward to seeing him join the Executive Committee of the Group.”
Johan Deschuyffeleer, chairman of the board of directors at Orange Belgium, added: “The board and I would like to congratulate Michaël for this new role in the Executive Committee of the Orange Group. We would like to warmly thank Michaël for his many contributions, efforts and commitment over the past four years.
“As a strong leader he created value for every stakeholder inside and outside the company: from the 1,500 employees to the millions of Orange customers and the various shareholders worldwide. Michaël pursued growth on all levels: operationally, financially as well as commercially. He created the fundaments for a future proof company, in a balanced and a sustainable way, thanks to the roll-out of an ambitious and bold transformation plan that made Orange Belgium more digital, caring and efficient.
“Under his leadership Orange Belgium is more than ever ready for the future. We wish Michaël all the best in his new adventure”.
After his nomination, Trabbia said: “I am particularly proud of the work done by our teams in Belgium and what we have achieved together during the past four years.
“We successfully positioned Orange Belgium as the customer-centric bold challenger of the Belgian market. Starting from a mobile-only position in a duopoly broadband market, we managed to build a strong convergent position and customer base with our convergent Love offers. On the mobile side, we were the first to launch an unlimited data offer in Belgium back in 2018; and recently we were again the first to launch mobile discounts for families with our GO offers.
“We also reached significant strategic achievements such as the RAN-sharing deal with Proximus, the MVNO deal with De Persgroep, the acquisition of BKM, the cable regulation improvement, the preparation of the networks of the future; and our Bold Inside transformation plan.
“I really want to warmly thank Orange Belgium’s teams and executive committee for their relentless commitment and the quality of their work, which were absolutely key in achieving these successes. I also want to sincerely thank the members of the Board for their trust and their support. As a result, Orange Belgium managed to steadily increase its value market share and is now recognized as a strong operator of growth.
“As from September, I will have the great honour to lead Orange Group’s technology and innovation teams, next to Stéphane Richard, Orange chairman and CEO. I look forward enthusiastically to what we are going to achieve together”.
Trabbia joined Orange in January 2011 and became group senior VP for corporate public affairs. He then moved to the team of the chairman and CEO of Orange as chief of staff and secretary of the group’s executive committee in July 2014. He joined Orange Belgium in September 2016 as CEO.
The Orange Belgium board of directors will select his successor as new CEO of Orange Belgium by the end of this month.
