As Wimbledon fever escalates, Orange launches 'grunting' ringtone

In a bid to give tennis-lovers the full Wimbledon experience, Orange today released an exclusive ringtone inspired by some of 2009’s biggest grunters.

At 101 decibels - a level which could damage hearing - Maria Sharapova has officially the loudest grunt but, with Larcher de Brito playing, there could be a new record. The Williams sisters also have a shot at the loudest grunt award - their personal best reaches 85-90 decibels.

The ringtone is available to Orange customers via the Wimbledon page on Orange World.  Tennis fans can also stay up to date with latest scores and news with text alerts and SMS updates. How the grunters compare in decibels*

Lion’s roar: 110

Maria Sharapova: 101

Monica Seles: 93.2

Serena Williams: 88.9

Lindsay Davenport: 88

Venus Williams: 85

Victoria Azarenka: 83.5

*BBC 2009

Ends

For further information or for media to download their free grunt ringtone contact Louisa Ham on lham@golinharris.com or 020 7067 0495

About Orange

Orange is the key brand of the France Telecom Group, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With 123 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates.

At the end of 2008, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion euros (12.7 billion euros for the first quarter of 2009) and at 29 April 2009, the Group had a customer base of almost 184 million customers in 30 countries. These include 123 million mobile customers worldwide and 13 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers in Europe. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK population. At the end of March 2009, Orange had almost 17 million customers in the UK – 15.8 million active mobile customers and close to one million fixed broadband customers.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.

For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com

For further information, call the Orange press office on 0870 373 1500 or email: Orangepr@golinharris.com or visit www.orange.co.uk/newsroom