Orange Group is in talks with Ucom, an Armenian internet service provider, to sell 100 percent of its mobile subsidiary Orange Armenia.
The decision to exit from Armenia, former Soviet republic, follows the company’s strategy – called Essentials2020 plan — to exit from non-viable businesses.
As part of the strategy, Orange earlier decided to dispose its joint venture company EE to BT in the UK. Orange also acquired Jazztel in Spain.
Orange is also considering buying four telecom subsidiaries from Airtel Africa.
The company feels that Orange Armenia does not have the necessary scale to carry out by itself the massive investments required to enable it to offer its customers convergent services.
The discussions with the internet service provider Ucom concern the sale of Orange Armenia, which would enable the creation of a strong Armenian player capable of offering its customers a broad range of fixed and mobile services.
Orange Armenia deployed one of the country’s most extensive 3G+ networks both in the capital Yerevan and in rural areas, and is the leader in mobile internet. Orange had 630,000 customers in Armenia at the end of 2014 and employs 500 people.
