When unconfirmed rumors circulated the web about Orange selling its operations in English speaking nations in Africa, Orange came out to dismiss such reports but sooner than later its Ugandan operations were up for purchase and were bought by the Lebanese Africell holdings limited. This put an end to the rumors which were since silenced as it was a confirmed deal only awaiting the regulator’s approval. As of this writing the regulator, Uganda communications commission (UCC) last week on Friday approved the deal and the Lebanese telecom operator can commence operations as early as September. UCC now has a two weeks window in which it has to publicize this deal in main stream media. It should be noted that all locals employed at orange Uganda will retain all their positions since they best understand day to day operations at the telecom outfit as well as this competitive Ugandan telecom space.
With operations in three African countries putting Uganda as the fourth to join Africell operations, Africell enters such a competitive country with the likes of MTN, and Airtel Uganda at the top each commanding customers in millions with the former having 10 million subscribers and the later coming second with an estimated 7 million subscribers. Even its market leader position being the best ISP with 3G coverage and now 4G is being threatened by the likes of Smile telecom that look to dethrone Orange with their competitive data services.
