France Telecom Outsources African Towers

PARIS -- Côte d'Ivoire Telecom, Orange Côte d'Ivoire and Orange Cameroon, subsidiaries of France Telecom-Orange, have signed an agreement with IHS, a major mobile infrastructure operator in Africa, for the operation of all the subsidiaries’ towers in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon which is expected to improve mobile networks in both countries. Under the terms of the agreement, which involves more than 2,000 sites in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, the towers will remain the property of the Orange subsidiaries. IHS will operate the towers for Orange for a term of 15 years and bring specialist knowledge and skills to improve the customer experience whilst reducing Orange’s cost base. IHS' focus on the passive infrastructure will enable and accelerate further network modernisation, particularly in the areas of efficient grid and diesel utilisation and the growing use of renewable energy to power the network. Through IHS’ tower sharing model, available space on these towers will be marketed to other mobile operators whilst Orange subsidiaries will benefit from access to available slots on towers that IHS currently owns in both countries. To further expand the network and meet local demand, IHS has committed to building new hybrid solar and generator power sites, thereby cutting diesel consumption at these sites by up to 70 percent. Solar-only sites are favoured in rural areas with low consumption where delivering diesel is more expensive. France Télécom – Orange