Orange ()

Posted on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 7:08pm.

Orange is a French telecoms company that has successfully bought itself into the African market over the last few years, by either partnering with or buying local telecoms.  That possibly makes them the single largest investor and owner of fixed lines in Africa.  We chose Orange as our number three company to watch because, the company could start to realize a quick return on investment, as some fibre optic undersea cables are completed and go live this year.  It is about to give African Multinational Telecoms firms MTN and Celtel a run for their money.  We believe Orange will control the high end market, as corporations, governments and NGO’s seek more secure communication solutions through fixed line broadband solutions.  France Telecom-Orange is also backing the development of a new 12,000 km cable, called ACE (Africa Coast to Europe), that will extend from Gabon to France, and from2011 will connect Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, Portugal and France. An extension to South Africa is also being studied.

For this project, France Telecom and its subsidiaries Côte d’Ivoire Telecom, Orange Bissau, Orange Cameroun, Orange Guinée, Orange Mali, Orange Niger, Orange Spain and Sonatel have teamed up with numerous international operators.