French telecoms giant Orange plans to continue operating its business services units in Kenya and Uganda despite reports that it may pull its consumer mobile offerings from these countries.
This is according to Yannick Decaux, Orange Business Services country manager for South Africa and sales director for sub-Saharan Africa, speaking at a briefing in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Orange Business Services is dedicated to business-to-business (B2B) offerings and the integration of communications solutions for multinational corporation.
According to Decaux, his company’s focus is still on Africa and maintaining its growth strategy for the continent despite reports that France Telecom could sell part of its over 60% stakes in both mobile networks Orange Kenya and Orange Uganda.
“There is a lot of speculation regarding that and I don’t want to say anything further on that subject,” Decaux told ITWeb Africa.
“I can confirm however; that Orange Business Services operations in both those countries will continue.
“Our main aim is to help African companies grow across the continent as well as globally,” Decaux explained.
Last month France Telecom announced that it was in the process of reviewing its Kenyan and Ugandan operations to determine their business sustainabilities or the possibility of acquiring additional partners in those two countries.
The French company hired Lazard Consultants to help it in the strategy review, ITWeb Africa reported.
In Kenya, Orange is the country’s third largest mobile operator after Safaricom and Airtel. The telco has a 7.1% market share of the Kenyan mobile market with 2.2 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, Orange has struggled to make a dent in Uganda’s mobile market where MTN and Airtel dominate.
At the time of the announcement France Telecom’s press officer Tom Wright said, “One option would be to find new partners in these countries to ensure that the necessary financial and operating resources are available to maintain investment and support the continued development of operations.”
Source: ITWeb Africa
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