Hong Kong based Hutchison Whampoa introduced the brand in the country, through the rebranding of its existing Mumbai telecom circle Cell phone service – 'Max Touch', to 'Orange'. Shortly, issues arose concerning the ownership of the 'Orange' brand in India, when France Telecom who in May 2000 purchased the worldwide rights for the brand from Vodafone made an offer to pick up a significant stake in Hutchison's India operations, in order to own the brand in India. Hutchison turned down the offer, as it had retained the rights over the brand in India through an earlier agreement, but ended up paying royalty to France Telecom. Hutchison Essar He ended using the brand in Jan 2006. Orange returned to the country in July 2007, as Orange Business Services India, when France Telecom acquired the enterprise network services and managed services business of GTL Ltd. Since then, OBS India has grown to become one of the country's major data connectivity solutions provider. France Telecom had earlier entered into a joint venture with BPL Mobile (now Loop) – a rival of Hutchinson Max in Mumbai mobile market; but sold its entire 26% stake in JV in December 2004. Thus, it completely exited from its Indian operations, because of dual brand visibility – competing against its own brand Orange, a business run by Hutchison. Evolution of OBS and return of Orange to India: 2006 – present In January 2006, Hutchison Essar (earlier Hutchison Max) ended using Orange brand for its Mumbai operations and started using Hutch brand, which was later acquired by Vodafone in 2007. With the strategic ambition to become an integrated player in managed data networks and IP-based communication and hosting for global enterprises, France Telecom on 1 June 2006 announced the consolidation of the group's business services operations and rebranded its existing operations of Equant and Wanadoo to a new entity – 'Orange Business Services' (informally, OBS). The rebranding exercise created France Telecom SA's global brand for mobile telephony, as well as all broadband and business connectivity services – 'Orange'. In July 2007, the brand 'Orange' returned to India as Orange Business Services India, when France Telecom acquired the enterprise network services and managed services business of GTL Ltd from Global Group- an Indian network services provider. Through the acquired business, France Telecom received the International and National Long distance license (ILD NLD) in India, that enabled OBS India to provide