The project, which has the working title "Orange Challenge", is expected to become the firm's key global sponsorship property. It follows Orange's withdrawal of its £20m-a-year title sponsorship of the Formula 1 Arrows team at the end of last season.
Parent company France Telecom is understood to have commissioned a yacht to be built under the name 'Orange Challenge', which will act as a grand symbol of the sponsorship.
Orange Challenge will provide funding and sponsorship for teams or individuals who are prepared to undertake ground-breaking challenges, both physical and mental.
It will see Orange eschew traditional badging of existing media properties with a more ambitious sponsorship programme. The company is seeking to leverage Orange Challenge in the UK and overseas by funding TV programmes showcasing some of the human endeavours. It is also considering a number of other vehicles to promote the initiative to a mass audience, which includes enlisting globally recognised celebrities.
Orange France is a previous sponsor of the catamaran, now named Kingfisher 2, used by yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur in the round-the-world record attempt that failed this week.
The project is being engineered by the mobile network's group brand team under the stewardship of global brand director Alex Batchelor. It is understood to have been in the planning stages for several months.
However, it is being developed without any of the Orange brand's original architects. The last remaining launch marketer, Peter Raymond, left this month.
Orange has 44.37m customers worldwide and is the UK's top mobile network.
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