French telecommunications services provider Orange has announced that Bruno Mettling will be appointed deputy chief executive officer in charge of operations in Africa and the Middle East (AMEA).

In a media release the telco says with its Essentiels2020 strategic plan, it has defined its priorities for the next five years.

As from 1 March 2016, the Group's organisation will evolve in line with the strategic plan in order to best implement this roadmap and support Orange in its transformation.

The company explained that Marc Rennard, who successfully led Orange's development in Africa and the Middle East, will be appointed deputy chief executive officer in charge of customer experience and mobile financial services.

"Armed with his experience gained rolling-out Orange Money, he will be in charge of mobile financial services, one of the two areas of diversification set out in the strategic plan," says Orange.

Jean-Marc Vignolles is to be appointed as chief operating officer of AMEA operations.

Orange describes Africa and the Middle East as a growth territory. "The creation of a holding company bringing together its operations in this zone, as well as the planned acquisition of four new countries, opens up new development prospects for the Group to affirm its ambitions in that region," Orange states.

Africa subsidiaries

According to figures released in December 2014 Orange has presence in 20 countries in Africa, with 110 million customers and 22,000 employees.

In early September the company named several executives to lead its subsidiaries spread across Africa.

Eric Bouquillon has been appointed as chief executive officer of Orange Guinea, Thierry Marigny will head up Sonatel in Senegal as deputy chief executive officer, and Alassane Diene will serve as chief executive officer of Orange Mali.

Jérôme Barré will be appointed senior executive vice president in charge of Human Resources.

The telco says it will mobilise all of its employees based on a new, people-oriented digital employer model.

Thierry Bonhomme, who is currently in charge of Orange Business Services (OBS), will also be appointed deputy chief executive officer. This appointment recognises his contribution to the redeployment of OBS as the trusted partner for enterprise customers in their digital transformation, the company claims.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO, commented: "This new organisation has been thought out to support our strategic plan, Essentiels2020. I am especially proud of the talent that makes up the management team at my side. These changes will take effect on 1 March 2016 in order to allow for the completion of certain particularly important projects for the Group, such as the preparation of our mobile banking offer and the integration of Jazztel. I also wanted the coming months to be devoted to the preparation and organisation of this transition, so that it can take place in an efficient and coherent manner, and so that the new organisation will be fully operational from day one."