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Orange sells billions of assets to go ruralINTL

Orange sells billions of assets to go rural

French telecommunications conglomerate Orange SA recently announced its plan to sell half of its interest in its fiber-optics unit Orange Concessions. The share carved out by Orange is reportedly worth $3.3b and will be sold to French financial institutions Caisse des Dépôts, CNP Assurances, and EDF Invest. Celebratory bubbly and charcuterie anyone?

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year and is aimed at reducing the cost of rolling out a fiber-optic cable infrastructure in rural, less-populated regions of the country. The deal will help solidify Orange as France’s number one fiber-optic provider.

According to chief executive officer Stephane Richard, the new partnership will allow Orange to consolidate the fiber-optic market and win more contracts from local and national authorities. Orange will own a call option on the stake, allowing it to repurchase and regain control of the unit in the future.

why it matters
Fiber-optic technology has proven itself to be the fastest and most reliable communication system for digital networks. Fiber-optic cables will no doubt play a major role in the network infrastructures of the future, and corporations and governments around the world are rushing to expand the use of them.