• April 23, 2009

Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation have entered a strategic partnership designed to benefit its users by extending the way people can access free knowledge, according to a statement from the companies.

The partnership will expand the reach of Wikimedia content through co-branded channels on Orange's mobile and Web portals. The two will work together to develop new services and features around content from Wikipedia, the flagship project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Orange, the European telco leader in Internet audience ranking -- with 55 million unique visitors per month -- will initially provide customers in France, the U.K., Spain and Poland with access to co-branded content from the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the Web encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Partnership activities include: creating specific Wikipedia channels on Orange mobile and Web portals; enriching sections of the Orange Web and mobile portals with links to relevant Wikipedia information; and developing mobile and Web-based widgets that enable customers to access Wikipedia content directly from their Orange mobile or Web home page.--Tanya Irwin