Telecom firm completes acquisition of Congo mobile operator Tigo DRC

Pulse Staff 10:43 - 21 April 2016

People walk past a sign of French telecom operator Orange hanging from a bridge in Cairo, Egypt March 13, 2016.

This month it completed the acquisition of Cellcom, Liberia's leading mobile operator, and in January it announced a deal to buy Indian firm Airtel's Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone subsidiaries.

Orange has completed the $160 million acquisition of Democratic of Congo mobile operator subsidiary Tigo DRC from Millicom, the French company said on Thursday, one of four African purchases it has made this year.

"With a population of more than 80 million people and a relatively low mobile penetration rate of 50 percent of the population, the country offers considerable growth potential," Bruno Mettling, deputy chief executive officer of Orange, said in a statement.