France's Orange has agreed to buy Cellcom Liberia from privately held Cellcom Telecommunications Ltd. for an undisclosed sum as part of its expansion strategy in West Africa.
The takeover will, according to Orange, give it ownership of the largest of Liberia's four mobile operators and enlarge its footprint in the Francophone region. Cellcom Liberia has 1.3 million mobile customers and a market share of about 45%, just ahead of LonestarCell MTN. An Orange spokesperson said that Cellcom is "a very dynamic player with good growth potential" in a market that is still developing.
Although many African markets now offer little opportunity for subscriber growth, mobile penetration in Liberia (which is home to some 4.3 million people) is still just 66% -- a much lower rate than in neighboring countries, according to Orange.
Orange already maintains networks in the neighboring markets of Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Mali and Senegal and says the acquisition will be executed by its Côte d'Ivoire subsidiary, pending regulatory approval.
The French operator's other markets in West and Central Africa include Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Niger.
Orange has previously outlined plans of increasing sales across its African and Middle Eastern markets by 20% between now and 2018 and reckons it can achieve an even higher rate of EBITDA growth through efficiency measures.
Those could include the sharing of network resources between different markets: Last year, Orange said it would monitor networks in a number of West and Central African markets from facilities in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) and Dakar (Senegal) in future.
In a statement, Orange said it would contribute marketing expertise and technical capability in Liberia but that Cellcom's founders and employees would remain involved in the business.