Marc Rennard, executive vice-president of the French telecommunications group Orange for Middle-East and Africa (MEA) declared that the company wished to manage its African operations from Dakar in Senegal and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. This will be done through virtual technologies. A contract will be signed in the next two weeks and the project will move into its installation stage by the end of the year. “This has never been done previously anywhere”, stressed Marc Rennard.

The goal for Orange, through the virtualisation of the management of its African operations from Dakar and Abidjan, is to contribute to cutting indirect costs of the group in the region. This will have an impact on the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisations (EBITDA) and allow the group to increase its turnover in the MEA region by 20% from now till 2018.

Marc Rennard disclosed the information on 2^nd July 2015 during a business meeting in London, UK. The Orange MEA head explained that on top of this, the group will also continue its network sharing agreements with other operators with a view to reducing costs. During the first quarter 2015, Orange operations in the Middle East and Africa earned €1.1 billion. This is a progression of 6.8% compared to the same period in 2014, representing 11.6% of the group’s total sales.