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Orange, the French telecoms giant, announced today that it has officially launched its brand in Liberia. The launch comes a year after the Paris-based company acquired Cellcom Telecommunications, the largest mobile operator in Liberia, for an undisclosed fee.

Following the rebranding, Orange said it will provide its marketing expertise and world-class technical capability to Orange Liberia to further strengthen the operator’s network and enhance customer service in the West African country.

“With this new presence in Liberia, Orange extends its footprint in West Africa,” said Bruno Mettling, Deputy CEO of Orange Group and Chairman/CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa. “The launch of the Orange brand confirms our confidence in the country’s ongoing economic recovery and our commitment to bring all the benefits of new digital services to Liberians.”

Orange Liberia is the leading mobile operator in the West African country, with over 1.6 million customers. The acquired company, Cellcom, was the first mobile operator to launch 3G services in 2012 and 4G-LTE services in 2016.

Given Liberia’s relatively low mobile penetration rate of 70 percent of the population, Orange Group said it plans to ramp up investment in Orange Liberia for network expansion and high-quality internet access.

“Even in 2017, an important part of the Liberian population is still waiting for basic telecom services,” said Mamadou Coulibaly, CEO of Orange Liberia. “We will invest significantly in network roll-out across the entire country, develop e-recharge in order to ease the constraints of scratch-cards loading, launch Orange Money, a new robust platform to boost mobile banking services in the country.”

Coulibaly also said the company will introduce new highly-competitive offers and low-cost smartphones in order to boost digital inclusion.

Orange has been on an acquisition spree in Africa’s fast-growing telecoms market as part of a strategy to boost its revenue given the saturated and static markets in Europe – the company’s home continent.

The French telecoms giant has so far expanded its African operations to 21 countries, including Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali, Tunisia, Kenya, Egypt, etc. In 2016, Orange said revenue at its African subsidiaries reached €5.2 billion, which is 12 percent of the group’s total revenue.