Orange detailed plans for its goals for its operations in Africa and the Middle East, and across business and cybersecurity offerings, highlighting these areas as key for reaching significant growth by 2023.

At a digital conference, Orange delegate CEO Ramon Fernandez (pictured) highlighted Africa and the Middle East as an important and resilient pillar for the group which is present in 18 markets in the region.

The region’s contribution to the group revenue is expected to surpass 13 per cent by the end of the year compared with 12 per cent in 2017.

“Our long-standing presence on the continent has allowed us to build a well-balanced portfolio of assets, taking the top spot in most of our countries thanks to a robust operational execution”, Fernandez explained.

Orange said it expects to reach an average annual growth rate in revenue of around 6 per cent a double-digit growth in operating income before interest and taxes (EBITDAaL) by 2023.

Jerome Henique, Orange deputy CEO and COO of Orange Middle East and Africa, said traffic data across its portfolio is expected to increase 4.4-times between 2019 and 2025, while 4G penetration in sub-Saharan Africa to grow to 29 per cent in 2025 compared with 12 per cent in 2020. Mobile financial services are tipped to reach almost €1 billion by 2025.

CEO of the unit Alioune Ndiaye said the company now has 132 million mobile customers in the region, of which 38.2 million are 4G customers. Orange Money has 55.2 million users, while broadband services are used by nearly 2 million customers.

Focus areas
Alongside its vision for Africa and the Middle East, Orange reaffirmed its B2B strategy in digital services, such as cloud, digital and IoT, integration services and new connectivity services. It expects more than 55 per cent of its Business Services revenue to come from these types of services by 2025.

For 2022 and 2023, Orange goals an average annual growth rate in revenue of the unit of around 2 per cent per year.

In the field of cybersecurity, the group aims double-digital revenue growth in the period and indicated a possibility for its Orange Cyberdefence division to create a standalone subsidiary.