Africell Holding has signed an agreement with the Orange Group to acquire its majority stake in Orange Uganda.
The transaction upon completion, following regulatory approval, would bring Africell’s portfolio to four operations with a total market potential of over 120-million inhabitants.
“Uganda with a population of over 37-million and a penetration rate of 50% was well within the criteria we had set to further expand in Africa targeting high potential and high growth markets,” says Ziad Dalloul, chairman and CEO of the Africell Group.
Africell would still be looking to add one more market to its portfolio before end 2015 to further expand and diversify its portfolio to cover West, Central, and East Africa.
Africell holds a dominant leading market share in Gambia and Sierra Leone and was able to achieve a 20% market share in the DRC in less than two years of operations facing well established operators. The group currently has over 9-million active subscribers and forecasted to reach 11-million by year’s end.
“We are confident in achieving a quick turnaround of the operation in Uganda; our operating model has proven that we would be able to offer an attractive proposition to the Ugandan consumer allowing us to quickly climb the market share ladder and bring the operation into profitability,” adds Elias Arwadi, chief operations officer of the Africell Group.
