Orange has appointed Valérie Cussac as its new CEO for its Wholesale International unit.

Cussac, who has been at Orange for close to 30 years, will take up her new role on August 1 and replace Emmanuel Rochas, who will become CEO of Orange’s TowerCo subsidiary Totem effective from June 1, 2025.

Franck Morales, SVP of marketing and business development, will serve as acting CEO from June 1 to July 31, 2025.

Cussac’s most recent position at Orange has been EVP transformation and operational excellence and global programs for Orange’s cyberdefense arm.

During her time at the French telco, Cussac has supported international projects, developing private networks and industrial 5G, plus its Smart Mobility Services business unit.

In her new role, Cussac will report to Michaël Trabbia, executive vice president and CEO of Orange Wholesale.

Cussac will lead Orange's global team on the development of 5G Core Network as a Service products, plus lead international infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, Rochas will replace Nicolas Roy as CEO of Totem after Roy announced in early March that he would lead Orange Group's data center strategy and business development unit.

Totem operates more than 27,000 towers in France and Spain. Unlike a lot of mobile operators that have sold passive infrastructure assets to fund network rollouts, the carrier has insisted it has no interest in following suit, something Roy reiterated to DCD last year.