With the help of Canadian telecoms infrastructure supplier NuRAN Wireless, multinational telecommunications firm Orange Madagascar plans to roll out 500 rural networking stations by 2025 along the country’s eastern coastline.
The project would accommodate 2G and 3G networks under the Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) architecture with varying categories of sites to accommodate varying population densities and coverage areas, the businesses said in a joint statement.
Due to this collaboration, Orange will be able to provide its Orange Money service to over a million additional customers. The telecommunications company will be able to expand its mobile network coverage to underserved parts of Madagascar thanks to this agreement.
According to Orange Madagascar CEO Frédéric Debord, “we are thrilled with the materialization of this cooperation, which aims to deliver mobile telephony services to Malagasy people who have until now been excluded from digital connectivity.”
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NuRAN partnership with Orange
NuRAN predicts that the partnership with Orange will bring in approximately US$90 million in gross income at an average of $1,500 per site per month and an expected gross margin of 70%.
“We’re thrilled to have Madagascar join our list of African partners. In addition, we appreciate Orange for awarding us a third contract as we work together to strengthen and expand our already fruitful business partnership. In less than two years since signing our first NaaS contract, we have expanded our site count to 4,642, “Francis Letourneau, CEO of NuRAN, agreed.
Bringing Together The Unreached
Orange’s third African affiliate to sign such a deal with NuRAN Wireless, following Orange Cameroon and Orange DRC, is a small island off the coast of Southern Africa (known as Orange RDC). Orange Madagascar will be able to provide mobile service to millions more individuals as a result of this deal.
The MTN Group has also established similar partnerships with NuRAN in the countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Namibia, and Côte d’Ivoire.
There were over 130 million Orange consumers in 18 African and Middle Eastern nations.
Market research firm Omdia estimates that Orange Madagascar will have 3 million users in the fourth quarter of 2022, making it the third largest telecom on the island.
Telma Madagascar has the most customers in Madagascar, with 5.1 million, followed by Airtel Madagascar, with an estimated 4.9 million customers. At 56,840, Blueline has the fewest paying customers of the major phone companies.
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