In August 2000, France Télécom bought Orange plc from Vodafone for a total estimated cost of €39.7bn. At the time, France Télécom also bought stakes in several other international firms (GlobalOne, Equant, Internet Telecom, Freeserve, EresMas, NTL, Mobilcom), of which some have since been sold back. Through this process, France Télécom became the fourth biggest global operator. The mobile telephone operations of Orange plc were merged with the majority of the mobile operations of France Télécom, forming the new group Orange SA.