Orange completed the acquisition of Cellcom Liberia, less than three months after first announcing the deal.

The acquisition, struck through the group’s Cote d’Ivoire subsidiary, means Liberia becomes the 20th country to join the French operator’s growing footprint in Africa and the Middle East.

Financial terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

In a statement, Orange said the country has high growth potential, given “a relatively low mobile penetration rate” of 66 per cent. It also strengthens the operator’s position in Africa, where “almost one in ten people are now customers”.

Cellcom Liberia has approximately 1.2 million connections, according to GSMA Intelligence’s estimates for Q1 2016, making it the country’s second largest operator behind MTN’s Lonestar, which has around 1.4 million.

Following Orange’s failed merger with domestic rival Bouygues Telecom earlier this week, CEO Stephane Richard told Bloomberg the company plans to continue to grow in Africa and the Middle East.