France Telecom SA's Orange unit is studying the purchase of three mobile-phone startups and an existing wireless business in Africa, Executive Vice President Marc Rennard said in an interview.
``We have four cases under serious study, with guys dedicated to these studies,'' Rennard, who runs Orange's international, Africa, Middle East and Asia business, said in Cape Town today. All four deals might be concluded by January if not sooner, he said. Orange has budgeted $1 billion for spending on the continent in 2009, he said.
Orange is active in 15 countries in Africa. Over the past two years it has acquired five mobile-phone businesses on the continent, where growth prospects are better than in Europe's mature markets. On the other hand, forays into Africa require more investment in infrastructure and capacity.
Orange would not overpay for acquisitions, Rennard said. The global financial crisis ``may be good for the business,'' as prices were too high three months ago, he said.
Three of the projects would be start-up businesses, while one is an existing operator, Rennard said. Two projects are in West and Central Africa and the other two are in East Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is attractive because ``there's a lot of people with low penetration,'' although the instability in the country is ``disturbing,'' Rennard said. He declined to say whether Orange was bidding for a license in the country.
