France Telecom has revealed plans to increase its footprints in Africas' booming mobile market by entering Algeria, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mauritania, Benin and Togo.
Although the company said there are no imminent talks of acquisition, France Telecom senior executive vice president in charge of group strategy and development, Elie Girard, said at a press conference in London: "It is our strategy to develop in Africa and the Middle East, so anything that does happen, we will look very carefully at it."
Apart from the aforementioned African countries, the company also plans to increase its presence in Mali where it is present via Senegal-based Sonatel, a company in which it holds a 42 percent stake, and Morocco, where it holds 40 percent of Meditel.
Girard revealed that, "Morocco is a country of interest," but France Telecom would proceed "very cautiously" with respect to any possible move for Maroc Telecom.
"We're already there (in Morocco) with Meditel, and we have a good partnership with them," he said.
The France Telecom group strategy and development vice president also divulged that the telecoms company is seeking to sign management contracts with telecom groups in Libya and Algeria.
"There are two operators in Libya today and there is a tender for management contracts and we are working hard to get one of those."
"If we manage to enter Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, for example, that would be very valuable for us," he said adding that the countries' proximity to Orange's existing operations in Mali and Senegal made them more attractive.
Girard who asserted that "In the next five years, (Africa's) telecoms market is going to be the most dynamic in the world” posited that a presence in Benin would improve a link between the company's network in Niger and the submarine cables that carry internet traffic between Africa and the world.
France Telecom expansion plan is part of its “Conquest 2015” agenda that was announced in 2010 - where it plans to be the number one or number two player in every market it is established while improving its revenue from $4.5billion at the end of 2009 to $9.4billion in emerging markets.
With 72 million customers, France Telecom, which markets its services under the brand Orange, is the third largest telecom operator in Africa after MTN and Vodafone. Orange is the sponsor of soccer's Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.
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