Orange Trials HSDPA in Senegal's Dakar

Senegal's Sonatel, which trades as Orange has launched a trial HSDPA network in the capital city, Dakar. The trial is limited to 200 Orange subscribers and selected journalists covering the technology sector, reports the Sud Online publication.

The Director General of Sonatel Multimedia, Gaïdy Ndao said that the tests follow on from feedback during the Organisation of The Islamic Conference held there in March. He stressed that the trial phase would be used to evaluate their customer needs before a larger rollout of the upgrade.

Sonatel ended the first half of this year with just over 3 million subscribers, according to figures from the Mobile World subscriber database. This represents a market share of around 65% in a country with only one other operator, Sentel.

According to the company's 2007 annual report, Sonatel is 42.3% owned by France Telecom, 27.7% by the government, 10% by the employees and the remaining 20% is floated on the West African Stock Exchange (BRVM) - where the company comprises nearly 47% of the entire stock exchange value.

On the web: Sud Online - The Mobile World - Orange

Posted to the site on 21st August 2008