Landmark browser deal for Baidu
Baidu, China’s biggest online search engine, will mark its largest international expansion to date with an exclusive deal to provide a mobile browser across Africa and the Middle East for many of the smartphones sold by France Telecom.
中国最大的在线搜索引擎百度(Baidu)与法国电信(France Telecom)达成一项排他性协议，将为后者向非洲和中东出售的许多智能手机提供移动浏览器。这是百度迄今为止最大手笔的国际扩张动作。
As part of a broader expansion in the region, France Telecom will pre-install the Baidu-based mobile browser for its Android customers in Africa and the Middle East. France Telecom’s Orange has a total mobile base of nearly 80m customers in the region.
作为其在该地区整体扩张计划的一部分，法国电信将为其非洲和中东的Android客户预装百度开发的移动浏览器。法国电信旗下的Orange在该地区已有近8000万手机用户。
France Telecom said that Africa would be the world’s most dynamic telecoms market in the next few years, adding that the Baidu deal would help drive mobile data adoption in markets where Orange is already seeing increased demand for the internet using smartphones.
法国电信表示，非洲在未来几年内将成为全球最具活力的电信市场。该公司称，Orange在非洲市场上已亲眼看到，利用智能手机上网的需求有增长趋势，这次与百度达成的协议，将有助于推动移动数据在这些市场上的应用。
Orange, which is the third-largest operator in Africa, said that demand for Android devices doubled in the second half of 2012 in the region.
非洲第三大运营商Orange表示，2012年下半年，该地区对Android设备的需求量翻了一番。
Mobile penetration across Africa varies from just 17 per cent in Democratic Republic of Congo to 102 per cent in Tunisia, meaning that there is potential new customer growth in many markets, but the aim for France Telecom is also to give customers their first access to the internet through their phones.
整个非洲地区的手机渗透率参差不齐，从刚果民主共和国的仅17%到突尼斯的102%。这意味着，许多市场都具有增加新用户的潜力，但法国电信的另一个目的是为没上过网的用户提供一条通过手机上网的渠道。
The deal marks the first global operator agreement by Baidu, China’s dominant search engine, which said that this was one of its biggest strategic moves outside of China to date.
上述协议是中国领先搜索引擎百度与国际运营商签下的第一份合作协议。百度表示，这是迄今为止其在海外采取的最宏大的战略举措之一。
The company said: “We see the Middle East and north Africa region as particularly important for Baidu. This deal with Orange for a mobile browser is of particular significance because of the rapidity of the shift toward use of the mobile internet – especially in developing markets where fixed-line internet penetration remains quite low.”
百度表示：“我们认为，中东和北非对于百度尤其重要。我们与Orange达成的移动浏览器协议具有特别重要的意义，这是因为用户向移动互联网迁移的趋势非常快——在固线互联网普及率仍相当低的发展中市场尤为如此。”
For France Telecom, the deal is another part of a wider strategy to double emerging market revenues to €7bn by 2015. The company wants to expand in a number of countries, in particular around a cluster of west African nations, and strike commercial management agreements where there are state-owned operators.
该协议是法国电信一项更宏大战略的一环。法国电信希望，其在新兴市场的营收到2015年能翻一番，达到70亿欧元。该公司希望把业务扩展到多个国家，特别是西非国家，并在有国有运营商的地区达成商业管理协议。
Countries on its acquisition list include Togo, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Gabon, while it is already among companies vying to take on the management of a state-backed group in Libya. The company also has longer-term ambitions in Ethiopia and Algeria, and is interested in the stake being sold in a Moroccan telecoms business by Vivendi.
法国电信计划在多哥、毛里塔尼亚、布基纳法索和加蓬等国展开收购，同时也在积极争夺利比亚一家有政府背景的集团的管理权。该公司在埃塞俄比亚和阿尔及利亚也有长期目标，并且有意收购维旺迪(Vivendi)出售的一家摩洛哥电信企业股权。
FT
2013-01-16
FT
361次
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