By Ralph Sesay
Annie Wonnie Katta, Head of PR and Media Relations, Orange Sierra Leone, has said in Freetown that Orange Sierra Leone can now comfortably boast that they have the widest network coverage, covering about 74% of the country’s population.
She made this disclosure while updating the Press on the activities of Orange Sierra Leone as it relates to marketing of products and services, network expansion, Orange Money etc.
Madam Katta started by thanking the media for their indefatigable role to nation building.
She recounted that Orange as a globally recognized multi-service provider has been able to stamp their innovative footprints in the country just in three years of their operations in the country.
’’Progress made over the past three years has merely laid out the foundation for our wider ambitions which is to introduce and implement new technologies,’’ the Head of PR and Media stated.
She further disclosed to newsmen that since the inception of their company, they have spent USD 112 million in areas of network expansion and modernization, human resource and Corporate Social Responsibility.
According to her, they acquired 247 sites from Airtel and have been able to expand them to 367 sites in three years.
This, she continued, has been able to connect 1,170 communities with thousands of Sierra Leoneans now accessing data, voice and financial services for the first time.
Annie Katta also used the occasion to showcase the company’s investment in the human resource capacity of their staff which she pegged at 16 million USD.
Employees, according to her, have hugely benefitted from soft skills, technical and leadership trainings.
‘’In the last two years, the company invested about 400,000 USD mainly in areas of women’s empowerment, health education and the environment,’’ she added.
Orange, she also maintained, was the first to contribute hugely to the President’s flagship Education Project by significantly contributing 1.5 million USD in direct material support.
This USD1.5 million dollar support, according to her, will go towards supporting five projects in the FQE program.
Three of the five projects including the Super Coder Academy, she recounted, is already at an advanced stage ready to be rolled out by December, 2019, she concluded.
The highpoint of the session was an interactive session with the media.