Orange has acquired another nine per cent stake in Moroccan telecommunications operator Méditel, taking its total share in the company to 49 per cent
Fipar-Holding (Moroccan Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion group), FinanceCom and Orange signed the final documentation increasing Orange’s interest in Méditel in application of the agreements that had been earlier signed in December 2010.
Orange will also benefit from the rights set out in the 2010 agreements. Méditel’s board of directors would now be composed of five members proposed by Orange and four members appointed by the company’s Moroccan shareholders. The company will also now be fully consolidated in the financial statements of the Orange group.
With more than 13mn mobile subscribers who represent 31 per cent market share at the end of 2014, Méditel’s 2014 revenues were about US$560mn. Launched in 1999, Méditel has invested heavily in its networks, which now include over 5,400 km of fibre optic cable. This year, the company will also complete the overhaul of its mobile network, which will extend 3G coverage to 95 per cent of the population.
The company is also the first to launch 4G operations in Morocco in June this year.
According to company sources, Orange is considering selling 10-15 per cent of its 99 per cent stake in Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil. It is also in talks with Airtel for possible acquisition of Airtel’s subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville) and Sierra Leone.
