Orange Unveils 5G Lab in Côte d’Ivoire

Orange Côte d’Ivoire has opened its Orange 5G Lab, devoted to digital professionals, start-ups and businesses. This event took place on Tuesday, September 20 at the Deux Plateaux Smart Store (Cocody, Abidjan).

It was attended by Amadou Coulibaly, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Government Spokesperson, Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group, Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, and Mamadou Bamba, CEO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire.

The 5G network roll-out across Côte d’Ivoire is scheduled for 2023, so Orange Côte d’Ivoire is thinking ahead by providing local businesses with a new collaborative space that is fully equipped and dedicated to practical applications.

Orange 5G Lab Abidjan offers services and support to economic players devised with expert partners such as Huawei, Nokia or ZTE. The free and customized Orange 5G Lab system is built around two concepts :

Allowing economic players to discover new possibilities enabled by 5G, and the way it could positively impact their activities.

With our 5G experts, supporting innovative businesses keen to experiment with 5G’s potential for their product or service.

This site will host a 5G demo space for different business sectors, conferences, training, co-working sessions, co-innovation and practical 5G application sessions.

“We recognize that 5G is a new opportunity for businesses eager to diversify, optimize or revitalize their activity. To support them, it is crucial that this space offers ready-to-use tools and allows the results of these experiments to be assessed in a practical fashion. This initiative reflects our historic commitment to digital inclusion. We aim to foster innovation and help create value within the local ecosystem,” confirms Mamadou Bamba, CEO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) explains: “Like the Orange Digital Center opened last year, the Orange 5G Lab will allow faster adoption of this technology by local businesses. They will not only be able to benefit from the expertise and tools available here, in Abidjan, but they will also have access to feedback from more than 1,500 businesses and local authorities that have had access to an Orange 5G Lab worldwide – including 127 that have already been able to set up testing based around their own practical examples.”

For Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group: “As a leader in the telecommunications sector and a key player in technology innovation, the Orange Group welcomes this new Orange 5G Lab in West Africa. It confirms our local influence and commitment to encouraging digital uses requiring high-speed internet, notably for start-ups and businesses. Orange has already opened 15 Orange 5G Labs, including 2 in Africa, and it will continue to drive this initiative throughout the Group's footprint.”