Africa would it be the new Eden of the telecom operators? After, Orange, present in 21 countries, Etisalat, the operator of Abu Dhabi, in 12 countries, Free made its debut in Senegal. In fact, the operator Tigo has become Free. This change of name occurs after that Tigo was bought by a Holding company , called (this does not invent) Saga Africa. This holding company is owned by three partners. A businessman from senegal, Yérim Sow, owner of the real estate group and hôtelierTeylium, the franco-malagasy Hassanein Hiridjee and Xavier Niel, through his own holding company, NJJ. Hiridjee and Niel know each other well. They are partners to The Meeting in 2015, have developed their business in Mayotte and Comoros. And could well pursue their common development in other countries.

With the Senegal, Xavier Niel is continuing its developments at the international, via NJJ or Iliad, the parent company of Free. It is already present in Switzerland (Salt), Monaco (Monaco Telecom), Ireland (Eir), Italy (Iliad), the Comoros, Mayotte and now in Senegal. The latter has the particularity of becoming a new terrain of confrontation between two French: Orange and Free. As usual, the hellion telecom comes with attractive rates. Even if the margin of manoeuvre is narrow, in a country still dominated by pre-paid offers, and with an average income per subscriber of the order of two to three euros per month, Free plays again the card of low prices. Thus, while Orange offers packages for a period of one day, for 1,000 francs CFA, or about € 1.52, giving the right to 120 minutes of communications and 300 Mb of data, Free offers, for the same amount, 30 minutes of talk and 2gb of data, with WhatsApp unlimited and is valid for one month.

The african market is competitive, unstable, but also very rich in growth opportunities for the telecom operators. There are market shares to be won in a country which may yet take off from an economic point of view. Orange has entered the potential of the region and has made Africa a true laboratory for innovation. This is where the group first launched its financial services and its service offerings in the energy. Free seems to follow the same path, since it has also benefited from the brand change to announce the launch of a money transfer service, Free Money.