Operator Orange Madagascar and supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions NuRAN have announced a network-as-a-service (NaaS) agreement.
The agreement involves the deployment of up to 500 rural networking telecommunication sites under the NaaS business model in the east coast of Madagascar.
The ten-year agreement with Orange Madagascar is NuRAN’s third contract with Orange. It offers over US$90 million in potential gross revenue at an approximate rate of US$1,500 per site per month with an estimated gross margin of 70%.
The estimated gross revenues are subject to, among other things, associated project expenses, the company completing all financing necessary for the build-out of the sites, and insurance and collection of applicable fees from network operators.
Fees for the NaaS services provided by NuRAN under the agreement are to be paid on a revenue-sharing basis.
The project is expected to support 2G and 3G networks with a variety of site categories to cover different population densities and coverage areas. NuRAN expects to retain the ownership of the infrastructure after completion of the contract, which increases the overall value of the agreement.
The agreement was signed at a virtual ceremony attended by senior figures from both companies and the government.
Francis Letourneau, CEO of NuRAN says: “With the addition of these 500 sites, we have now reached 4,642 sites under contract in less than two years from receiving our first NaaS contract. We are approaching 50% of our goal of 10,000 sites under contract within five years.”