The digital revolution represents a tremendous opportunity for the economic and social development of the African continent. It enables faster progress in terms of social advancement and access to services for both citizens and businesses. For this transformation to fully benefit African countries, they must anticipate training needs and prepare for the jobs of the future. Orange is fully committed to this transformation through its service development strategy, numerous digital training initiatives, and its support for African startups. It can also count on its subsidiary Sofrecom to assist governments and private operators with their projects.
Has the Momentum Around Digital Gone Beyond the Experimental Stage? How Does Digital Transformation Contribute to Africa's Development?
The digital revolution is impacting the entire world, especially Africa. Digital technology represents an unparalleled opportunity for the African continent. We are witnessing how digital tools help bridge past gaps and allow countries to access cutting-edge technologies.
Let me give you a first example: mobile technology has enabled a leap from 2G directly to 4G, bypassing the copper fixed-line stage and quickly giving people access to the internet.
The second example is in the banking sector. A large portion of the African population was previously unbanked. Today, mobile payments have enabled the economic inclusion of a majority of Africans who were excluded. Africa now has the highest mobile payment usage rate in the world.
These two examples clearly show how Africa, thanks to mobile and digital technologies, can fully enter the 21st century.
What Challenges Remain for Governments and Operators to Succeed in Their Digital Transformation?
There are many challenges. The first is central to Orange’s and operators’ core business: building quality networks. Without a quality network, there’s no communication, no data exchange, and no internet access. A country without a strong network is automatically at a disadvantage compared to its peers.
The second challenge concerns the operators themselves. They must shift from a network-centric culture to a service-centric one. It's no longer just about providing network access, but also delivering meaningful services. Orange has successfully made this shift for mobile services, but the next step is to extend it to energy, agriculture, health, and education—areas that will be profoundly transformed by digital technology.
Sofrecom as a Strategic Arm of Orange for These Challenges
Sofrecom has historically supported the deployment of networks and services, particularly in Africa. This experience positions it well to help Orange shift toward service development through partnerships in banking, energy, education, health, and agriculture. This involves developing service platforms, supporting African operators in new business areas, and assisting governments and institutions with their digital transitions. In education, it’s not just about opening new classrooms but leveraging digital tools and content to develop knowledge.
Africa must not integrate digital as an afterthought in development policies—it must rethink those policies through the lens of digital. Take health policy, for example: it can be transformed by the extraordinary potential of mobile technology in disease prevention, early detection, and monitoring.
Sofrecom has a key role to play in supporting public authorities on these transformations.
How Does Orange Support and Leverage Local Innovation Initiatives from Young Entrepreneurs and Startups?
This is a crucial point. Through its various initiatives—fablabs, incubators, and accelerators—Orange actively contributes to building a favorable ecosystem for startup development in all the countries where it operates.
Helping startups emerge is essential, but we must go further. The goal is to train Africa in digital skills so it can create the innovations it needs. To fully benefit from the digital revolution and the employment opportunities it brings, Africa must develop the necessary digital skills locally. While training structures now exist in North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia) and the Middle East, they are still insufficient in Sub-Saharan Africa. There's a risk—like with past industrial revolutions—that Africa ends up consuming ready-made applications from Europe, Asia, or America. That would be a loss, because Africa must create its own solutions to generate real added value.
Orange is actively addressing this challenge through its digital training efforts. Many local initiatives exist: for example, Sonatel Academy’s coding school, a data scientist training program in Abidjan in partnership with École Polytechnique (France) and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny National Polytechnic Institute (Côte d’Ivoire).
Lastly, startups need access to capital to ensure their growth. That’s the mission of Orange Venture Africa.
Orange is committed to nurturing a local digital ecosystem. Its aim is not to do everything alone, but to rely on local talent and momentum to develop service platforms, while providing the right resources and support.
What Sets Sofrecom Apart from Other Consulting and Engineering Players, and What Are the Key Challenges Ahead?
I was very proud to be appointed Chairman of Sofrecom. I’ve always seen having a model within the Orange Group, beyond the classic operator model, as a major asset to support Africa—and other regions—in their telecom evolutions and transformations.
Sofrecom is Orange Group’s agile arm for providing consulting and assistance to operators worldwide, especially in countries where Orange itself is not present.
I expect Sofrecom to preserve its unique position within the Group, to strengthen its agility, and to continue developing its consulting and engineering expertise—especially in new services. I want Sofrecom’s teams, led by CEO Guillaume Boudin, to stay at the forefront and actively support their clients’ and market evolutions.
