04 April 2023

Orange ended its exploration of Nigeria as a potential addition to its African footprint, as Middle East and Africa CEO Jerome Henique, reports on a lack of market conditions for the operator to enter.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced in July 2022 that Orange sent a team to explore a possible entry into Nigeria. However, Henique now states that Nigeria already has four established operators in its market and there was “no positive conclusion” from its recent market survey of Nigeria, and there is “no project in the short term to enter Nigeria.”

“When we consider what we have to invest, we believe that being the big number one or number two player is a condition for success. Nigeria is already a mature market, but we of course continue to monitor all markets and opportunities in Africa,” said Henique.

Orange is however, still considering entering Ethiopia, where the government is looking to sell off a 40% stake in state-owned Ethio Telecom. Henique has described Ethio Telecom as a strong incumbent that has been “transforming itself quite impressively” since the arrival of competition from Safaricom Ethiopia.