France Telecom will use the France Telecom brand for its fixed-line operations, while Orange will be its international brand for mobile and broadband.
The company's top executives had put the £80m pitch for Wanadoo's pan-European creative account, first reviewed in October, on hold while they worked out a new brand strategy.
The pitch had progressed to a shortlist of five networks. Wanadoo's UK agency M&C Saatchi is pitching together with BBDO, while the challengers are Y&R Paris and Red Cell, TBWA\London, Euro RSCG, and DDB London.
Worried by the dominance of BT in broadband, France Telecom executives began discussing extending the Orange brand in summer, as reported by Marketing last September. Orange and Wanadoo have since been developing joint services such as a 3G data card.
In the UK, the Wanadoo brand will disappear early next year. It has existed only since last May when France Telecom spent between £20m and £30m on rebranding Freeserve to the same name as its domestic ISP.
Freeserve was originally launched by Dixons in 1998, and its distribution via Dixons stores helped it to gain popularity among the UK's newcomers to the internet. Dixons sold Freeserve to Wanadoo in 2001.
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