Orange has strengthened its ties with ATC France, a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation, with a new partnership that will help the operator meet the mobile coverage commitments undertaken as part of its 'New Deal' agreement with the French government. The partnership concerns the deployment of between 900 and 2,000 new mobile network sites between 2020 and 2024, mainly expanding and increasing coverage in rural areas and along transport routes.
As part of this new deal, the two companies have agreed a 20-year hosting service agreement that will enable Orange to benefit from ATC France's expertise in management and marketing services for mobile network infrastructure. The financial details of the partnership remain confidential.
Orange has recently published its five-year strategic plan ('Engage 2025'), in which it announced a forthcoming TowerCo project in France, followed by similar others in Spain and other markets. It has described the TowerCos as new entities in which the operator would retain control. Their main purpose is to manage mobile tower assets, while improving operational efficiency and optimising mobile capital expenditure, said the company.
The operator's French footprint covers 25,000 mobile radio sites at present, including 17,000 on fully owned infrastructure. ATC France currently hosts nearly 5,500 customer contracts across more than 2,500 sites in operation. The partnership with Orange follows a contract signed earlier this year with the French department of Eure-et-Loir, creating a new public-private venture to build new masts in rural areas still lacking mobile services.
