A large Vodacom logo outside the Vodacom World mall in Johannesburg, South Africa. “We are looking at partnerships with other mobile operators and financial investors in countries where we operate,” a representative for Vodacom said in an emailed statement. “Our aim is to potentially alleviate the costs of rollout and rural connectivity, helping to address cost to communicate and narrow the digital divide.” The spokesperson said the company would comment on specific agreements once they’ve been finalized.
A representative for Orange declined to comment on specific talks, but said that the company’s stance is that “sharing certain network infrastructure with other operators in such large territories makes sense” because it “could facilitate improved coverage and network quality for customers.”
Vodacom and Orange are each working to expand to capture the market’s exploding growth — particularly for mobile services where young, tech-savvy users are spending more time on devices to access everything from entertainment to financial services. The African businesses are proving to be growth drivers for each group’s European parent companies.
Still, it’s an expensive exercise, especially when building out infrastructure to more rural areas where capital returns are usually lower. Joint ventures between operators would ease that financial burden.