By Brice Kouao, Abidjan Stock Exchange School.
Arrived in 2016 after having bought the local subsidiary of Airtel, Orange took the leadership from Onatel Burkina, a subsidiary of Maroc Télécom, in 2017. Three years later, how is the subsidiary of the Orange group developing in its electric duel with the subsidiary of Morocco Telecom?
According to the third quarter 2020 results provided by the various groups, Orange Burkina has the largest mobile subscriber base in the country. With 9,403,000 subscribers, the company is ahead of Onatel Burkina, which passes the 9 million subscriber mark (9,087,000). However, the gap between the two companies is narrowing as shown in the graph below. Orange Burkina, which had more than one million additional subscribers in the 1st quarter of 2019, only keeps an advance of 316,000 subscribers in the 3rd quarter of 2020.
Regarding income, the gap is much sharper. With 172.1 billion over the first three quarters of 2020, Orange Burkina shows growth of 10.2% compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, Onatel Burkina’s revenues are almost stable (+ 0.99%).
According to the Burkina Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority, the country’s mobile penetration rate stands at 96.5% in the 1st quarter of 2020. This rate leaves little room for growth for other operators to catch up. Orange Burkina ..
