Described as a “seamless” network, the new backbone in West Africa provides secured point-to-point links between eight capital cities in the region (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal). Comprised of 10,000km of fibre the judges were “stunned by this very impressive project in a challenging part of the world”.
Following its win in October, November saw the commercial launch of the network in which Alioune Ndiaye, chief executive officer of Orange Middle East and Africa, shared that it cost ‘several hundred millions of Euros” to build based on the company’s annual investment of 1 billion Euros per year to develop its in African networks.
During the launch press conference, it was confirmed that the network combines a terrestrial end-to-end fibre optic network with subsea cables for added security and resilience, as well as added redundancy, economies of scale and better internet access.
Looking ahead, Jérôme Barré, CEO Orange Wholesale & International Networks said that there are “two other countries we want to share capacity with” and they are “open to other countries” as well. This was further supported by Ndiaye who on the topic of expanding this network said “it will come. This is the first step and we remain open to other networks”.
As for the Group as a whole Orange reported revenues up 0.5% year on year, to a total of €10.3 billion. According to the company, this growth was driven by by equipment sales, which were up +10.8%, fixed broadband services which were up +5.3%, and IT and integration services which were up +5.1%.
In comparison, roaming revenue was down -31.1% year-on-year, a direct consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing travel restrictions.
Regionally, the group’s Africa & Middle East operations saw the highest sales with revenue increasing by +7.1%. Africa and Middle is credited as the main driver of this growth.
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