Orange Africa

Orange Africa is a mobile telecommunications company in Africa and the Middle East, founded in 2021 by OWL Ventures and Vuori, both predecessors to Illustrious. It is currently owned by Crown Cellular (in turn owned by Vuori's founder Kasperi Salovaara) and the consortium Orange Africa Holdings Limited.
==History==
Styhon Battersea Telecommunications Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa Limited was formed out of a merger between ​Axiata Group​, ​Millicom​, ​Bharti Airtel​, ​Zain Group​, ​Vodacom​, ​Global Telecom Holding​/​VEON​, ​Africell​ and ​MTN Group​, integrated with NEQSOL Holding's telecommunications operations, and Vodafone's operations in Oceania, Africa, Asia and Middle East, all under Styhon Battersea's ownership.
Hoot Middle East & Africa was formed out of the consolidation of African assets owned by Orange SA, Altice and Viettel Global, which OWL acquired shortly before founding Orange Africa. Nexttel in Cameroon was merged into Orange Cameroon during the consolidation.
During November and December 2020, Styhon Battersea announced to merge into Vuori, which caused Vuori to consider merging it's African operations with Hoot's African operations. Airtel Africa, Vodacom, Hoot Middle East & Africa, Africell, Moov, Mascom, Maroc Telecom, Touch (Lebanon), Zain, Batelco, Vodafone Africa and MTN Group soon were consolidated into Orange in 2021, under a joint venture between OWL and Vuori.
In February 2021, Orange Africa Holdings Limited absorbed its subsidiary Styhon Battersea Telecommunications Network Development Company and bought an additional 2% stake in the company from Hoot and Crown. They also acquired Mauritius Telecom, Eritel, Evatis, Comores Telecom, MTN Irancell, Almadar Aljadid (Al-Madar), MTC, and Getesa & Gecomsa, which soon were absorbed into Orange Africa, with Mauritius, Eritrea, Djibouti, Comores, Iran, Libya, Namibia and the Equatorial Guinea state respectively joining the consortium - later on, Crown's parent company Lotus managed to buy their stake out in exchange of some Class B shares in itself. During Hoot Telecom's sale of assets, they sold their 34% stake in Orange Africa to OAHL and Crown, with Crown taking the majority. Orange Africa will still operate under the Orange brand through a licensing deal that will expire on December 31, 2024.
In March 2021, MTN Mobile Money, tigo Pesa, Mobi Cash, JazzCash and Flous were merged into Orange Bank, which Orange Africa operates in serving countries under license from Orange. Orange Africa Holdings Limited announced a partnership between Orange Africa and Better Than Cash Alliance to start heavily promoting digital and mobile payments in the Middle East and Africa, to small and regular businesses, later that year.
In August 2021, Vodafone Egypt was sold to VodafoneThree plc.
==Ownership structure==
During the formation of Orange Africa, Hoot and Crown settled on the former getting a majority stake, since they owned all rights to the Orange brand. Orange Africa works as a licensee.
*Crown (55% equity stake; 49% voting power)
*Governments of Saudi Arabia (through GOSI, TeleInvest and PIF) and Vietnam (through ) in association with Crown's parent company Lotus (owning 75% of this venture) and the governments of United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Nigeria, Iran and Qatar, along with investors from the countries (45% equity stake held collectively under Orange Africa Holdings Limited; 51% voting power)
==Presence==
Country 	Year when founded/branded as Orange	Formerly known as 	Ranking
Afghanistan 	2021 	Etisalat (2007-2021)MTN (2008-2021) 	1st?
Algeria 	2021 	Djeezy (2001-2021)Ooredoo:Nedjma (2004-2013)Ooredoo (2013-2021) 	1st?
Angola 	2021 	Movicel (2003-2021)
Unitel​ and Multitel (???-2021) 	1st
Bahrain 	2021 	Batelco (1981-2021)Zain:MTC-Vodafone (2003-200?)Zain (200?-2021) 	1st
Benin 	2021 	Spacetel (????-2006)MTN (2006-2021)Moov (????-2021) 	1st
Botswana 	2003 	Vista Cellular (1998-2003)MASCOM (1998-2021) 	1st
Burkina Faso 	2016 	Onatel (1994-2021) 	1st
Burundi 	2021 	Lumitel (2014-2021) 	2nd
Cabo Verde 	2021 	CV Móvel 	1st
Democratic Republic of Congo 	2012 	Vodacom (2002-2021)Africell (2012-2021)Orange DRC:Congo Chine Télécoms (2001-2012)Airtel DRC:Celtel (2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021)	1st
Cameroon 	2002 	MTN (2000-2021)Nexttel (2014-2021)Orange Cameroon:Mobilis (1999-2002) 	1st
Central African Republic 	2007 	Moov (2005-2021) 	1st or 2nd?
Comoros 	2021 	Comores Telecom (2004-2021) 	1st
Chad 	2021 	Tigo (2005-2021)Airtel:Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Republic of the Congo 	2021 	MTN (2000-2021)Airtel:MSI Cellular Investments (1998-2004)Celtel (2004-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Djibouti 	2021 	Evatis 	1st
Egypt 	2016 	Etisalat Misr (2007-2021)
Orange Egypt:
Mobinil (1998-2016) 	1st?
Equatorial Guinea 	2021? 	Getesa and Gecomsa 	1st
Eritrea 	2021 	Eritel (1996-2021) 	1st
Eswatini 	2021 	MTN (1998-2021) 	1st
Gabon 	2021 	Moov (2000?-2021)Gabon Telecom/Libertis (1999-2021)Airtel:Celtel (2000-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Gambia 	2021 	Africell (2001-2021) 	1st
Ghana 	2021 	MTN (1994-2021)AirtelTigo:Airtel (1990?-2017)Tigo (1991-2017)AirtelTigo (2017-2021)Vodafone:Ghana Telecom (1974-2009)Vodafone (2009-2021) 	1st
Guinea 	2007 	MTN (2006?-2021) 	1st
Guinea-Bissau 	2008? 	Spacetel (1994-2006)MTN (2006-2021) 	1st
Iran 	2021 	MTN Irancell 	2nd
Iraq 	2021 	Asiacell (1999-2021)Zain:MTC-Vodafone (2003?-2007)Zain (2008-2021) 	1st
Ivory Coast 	2002 	Ivoiris (1996-2002)MTN (1996-2021)Moov (2006-2021) 	1st
Jordan 	1999 	Jordan Telecom (1971-2021; merged with Zain Jordan into Orange)
Umniah​ (2006-2021; merged into Orange)
Orange Jordan (1999-present)
Zain Jordan:
Fastlink (1994-2007?)Zain (2007?-2021)	1st
Kenya 	1999 (original)2021 (current) 	Orange Kenya: (2011-present)Airtel:Celtel (2000-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	2nd
Kuwait 	2021 	MTC (1983-2007)Zain (2007-2021) 	1st
Lebanon 	2021 	Touch (2004-2021) 	1st
Lesotho 	2021 	Vodacom (1996-2021) 	1st
Liberia 	2017 	Cellcom (2004-2017) (2000-2021) 	1st
Libya 	2021 	MTN Libya and Al-Madar 	1st
Madagascar 	2003 	Antaris (1998-2003)Airtel:Madacom (1997-2006)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Malawi 	2021 	Celtel (1999-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Mali 	2006 	Orange Mali:
Ikatel (2003-2006)
Sotelma/Malitel:
Sotelma (1989-2021) & Malitel (2000?-2021) 	1st
Mauritania 	2021 	Mauritel (1999-2021)
Chinguitel (???-2021) 	1st
Mauritius 	2008 	Cellplus (1992?-2008)
Mauritius Telecom (company, 1992-2021) 	1st
Mayotte 	2017? 	 	2nd
Morocco (and Western Sahara) 	2016 	Meditel (1999-2016)Maroc Telecom (1998-2021)Inwi (Zain):Wanadoo Maroc/Wanadoo Connect (1999-2004)Maroc Connect (2004-2009)Inwi (2009-2021) 	1st
Mozambique 	2021 	Vodacom (2003-2021)
Movitel (2012-2021) 	1st?
Namibia 	2021 	MTC (1995-2021) 	1st
Niger 	2008 	
Moov (2000?-2021)Airtel:Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Nigeria 	2021 	MTN (1994?-2021)Airtel:Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Oman 	2021 	Oman Future Telecommunications/Vodafone Oman (2018-2021)Ooredoo:Nawras (2004-2015)Ooredoo (2015-2021) 	1st?
Palestine (sometimes referred to as Palestinian territories)	2021 	Ooredoo Palestine 	2nd
Qatar 	2021 	Vodafone (2008-2021)Ooredoo:Qtel (1987-2013)Ooredoo (2013-2021) 	1st
Reunion 	2000 	 	2nd?
Rwanda 	2021 	MTN Rwandacell (Crystal Telecom Rwanda)
Tigo
Airtel 	1st
São Tomé (and Príncipe) 	2021 	CST 	1st
Saudi Arabia 	2021 	Zain (2008-2021) 	1st?
Senegal 	2021 	Sonatel (1989-2021)
Tigo:
Sentel (1999-2006)Tigo (2006-2021) 	1st
Seychelles 	2021 	Telecom Seychelles (1998-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Sierra Leone 	2017 	Africell (2005-2021)Airtel:Celtel (1998?-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2017) 	1st
South Africa 	2021 	Cell C (2001-2021)MTN (1994-2021) 	1st?
South Sudan 	2021 	MTN Sudan (2005-2011?)MTN South Sudan (2011?-2021)Sudani:Sudatel (1993-2011)Sudani (2011-2021)Zain:Mobitel (1996-2007)Zain (2007-2021) 	1st
St. Helena and Ascension Island 	2021 	Sure Mobile (????-2021) 	
Sudan 	2021 	MTN (2005-2021)Sudatel (1993-2021)Zain:Mobitel (1996-2007)Zain (2007-2021) 	1st
Syria 	2021 	Areeba (2001-2007)MTN (2007-2021) 	1st
Tanzania 	2021 	Vodacom (2000-2021)
Halotel​ (2015-2021)Tigo:Mobitel (1994-2006)Tigo (2006-2021)Airtel:Celtel (????-2007)Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Togo 	2021 	Moov (2002-2021) 	2nd
Tunisia 	2009 	Orange Tunisia (2009-)
Ooredoo:
Tunisiana (2004-2014)Ooredoo Tunisie (2014-2021) 	1st
Uganda 	2008 (original)2021 (current) 	Orange Uganda:Africell (2014-2021)Airtel:Zain (2008-2010)Airtel (2010-2021)MTN:MTN (1998-2021) 	1st
United Arab Emirates 	2021 	Etisalat (1976-2021) 	1st
Yemen 	2021 	Spacetel (2000-2007)MTN (2007-2021) 	1st
Zambia 	2021 	MTN (1994?-2021)Airtel:Zain (2007-2010)Airtel (2010-2021) 	1st
Zimbabwe 	2021 	Telecel 	2nd
They have joint ventures with Ericsson and Siemens to improve Orange's networks in Middle East and Africa.
===Subsidiaries and stakes===
*​Roshan​ (12.25%) - Afghanistan; inherited from Telia Company acquisition
*​Expresso Telecom​ (75%) - Ghana and Senegal
*​Tunisie Telecom​ - 15% stake; Tunisia, acquired in 2020
*​Safaricom​ - 40% stake; Kenya
*9mobile - majority stake; Nigeria
*​Mobily​ - 27% stake; Saudi Arabia
*​ Emtel (50%) - Mauritius
* Kenya Postel Directories (60%) - Kenya
*​Sabafon​ (~27%) - Yemen
*​ Vodacom - South Africa
* ​Korek Telecom​ (20%) - Iraqi Kurdistan
*​Ufone​ - 26% stake; Pakistan
*​ELTA (55%) - Angolan phone directory company
*​Jazz​ - Pakistan
*​Somali Telecom Group​
**Somafone​
**​Netco​
*Orange Ethiopia - a joint venture with ​Ethio Telecom​, through which they will improve mobile services and also offer them through the Orange brand
* Orange Bank Africa
==See also==
*O2 Latin America
Category:Ootwar's ideas
Category:Vuori
Category:OWL Ventures
Category:Telecommunications