14 April 2021

Orange DRC has penned a 10-year deal with Canadian vendor NuRAN Wireless to help expand its rural coverage across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Under the terms of the agreement, focused on NuRAN’s Network as a Service (NaaS) offering, with the latter constructing and running 2000 new towers across the next 40 months. The towers will allow French giant Orange to provide 2.75G services and meet pent-up demand, with a particular focus for rural communities with populations around 5,000.

The towers fall into one of four categories depending on population density and coverage requirements. Nuran’s technology uses a carrier-grade GSM base station powered by solar as part of a small-footprint (3 meters x 3 meters x 15 meters tall) remote tower.

“This contract is in line with our strategy to expand the NAAS business model across Africa,” said Francis Letourneau, CEO of NuRAN. “This is our second significant contract in Africa and with Orange after having already previously announced our agreement with Orange Cameroon SA.

The contract will run for a minimum term of 10 years for each site, including networking equipment as well as antennas, cabling, solar power systems, towers and related installation services. This agreement features a revenue sharing structure including a minimum guaranteed monthly fee per site built for the first five years.