According to a report from Bloomberg UK, the two groups are looking at where they could cooperate
Vodacom and Orange are reportedly in talks to see how they can work together to lower infrastructure costs in Africa. The African opcos are important drivers of growth for both of the European parent companies: Vodacom is majority owned by the British group Vodafone and Orange has headquarters in Paris.
The two have already been collaborating on shared Open RAN and vRAN in Romania.
According to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg UK, the two companies are looking at markets in which they both have opcos, such as Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are exploring the possibilities of sharing infrastructure and jointly building out networks in rural areas.
As yet no final decisions have been made and indeed the parties stress that they may not reach an agreement.
Orange declined to comment specifically, but stated that the company views “sharing certain network infrastructure with other operators in such large territories makes sense” on the grounds it “could facilitate improved coverage and network quality for customers.”
Vodacom’s scale
The report quoted a spokesperson for Vodacom saying, “We are looking at partnerships with other mobile operators and financial investors in countries where we operate.
“Our aim is to potentially alleviate the costs of roll-out and rural connectivity, helping to address cost to communicate and narrow the digital divide.”
Vodacom is the largest mobile operator in Africa, serving more than 200 million consumer and enterprise customers. From its origins in South Africa, Vodacom has opcos (highlighted in red in the map above) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It operates in Kenya and Ethiopia through Safaricom (highlighted in the map above in green). In total, its mobile networks cover a total population of more than half a billion people.
Vodacom said it would not discuss details until agreements were reached.