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France Telecom manages offline strategy with online division

By Suzanna Kerridge

Published: Tuesday 29 February 2000

France Telecom is to move the management of its paper-based telephone directory services online.

The French telco has amalgamated SNAT (Service National des Annuaires Téléphoniques) with its Internet unit ODA (L'Office d'Annonces).

France Telecom claims the move was designed to create a single point of access for all telephone enquiries. It is said that as more French citizens go online, the ODA is more and more in demand and is now the third most visited French site surpassed only by Yahoo! and Wanadoo.

However, the decision has caused concern among union leaders over prospective job losses. SNAT will close its Pessac operations leaving only offices in Bordeux and Saint-Laurent-Medoc.