31 May 2024

Vodacom and Orange are reportedly in talks to share infrastructure in Africa to cut network costs and deploy coverage in remote locations.

According to Bloomberg, the talks surround infrastructure in Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Vodacom told Bloomberg that a partnership between the operators could include network sharing and joint deployment in hard-to-reach rural locations. This would potentially alleviate costs and narrow the digital divide.

Africa has been highlighted as a bright spot for the Orange Group with consecutive quarters of revenue growth. In its recent Q1 2024 results Orange reported double-digit revenue boosts in its Middle East and African operation. Revenue grew 11% to €1.8 billion year-on-year. However, Vodacom revealed in its results net income dipped slightly by 2.8% to ZAR 16.3 billion, despite revenue being up by 26% to ZAR 150.6 billion.