Liberia: Orange Rings Up US$35.7M for Gov’t as Lonestar Drops Off LRA Top-10 List

MONROVIA – Orange Liberia has paid the Government of Liberia US$35,666,986 so far this year, making it the fourth-largest revenue contributor in the country, according to Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) figures as of October 31, 2026.

Only ArcelorMittal Liberia, Bea Mountain Mining Company and the Civil Service Agency rank higher. Orange sits ahead of fuel importers, the operator of the Freeport of Monrovia, the country’s main brewery and its maritime registry.

Its closest rival, Lonestar Cell MTN, is nowhere on the list. Lonestar was Liberia’s first GSM operator and for years its largest. Its absence raises fresh questions about the health of a company whose parent, South Africa’s MTN Group, has openly weighed selling it.

Orange’s Biggest Month

October was Orange’s biggest month of the year. The company paid US$6,275,560 in October alone, second only to Bea Mountain Mining Company’s US$16.6 million and well ahead of ArcelorMittal Liberia’s US$2.7 million.

That payment is almost double Orange’s monthly average. From January through September, the company paid about US$29.4 million, or roughly US$3.3 million a month.

Lonestar’s absence puts a ceiling on what it paid. The tenth-ranked contributor for the year, The LISCR Trust Company, paid US$11,952,270, and tenth place for October went to Monrovia Breweries at US$1,281,300. If Lonestar is listed as a single taxpayer, it paid less than both amounts. That means Orange paid at least three times as much as Lonestar this year, and nearly five times as much in October.

Orange’s payments this year also exceed those of APM Terminals Liberia, which runs the Freeport (US$16.6 million), Monrovia Breweries (US$14.0 million) and LISCR (US$12.0 million).

What the Figures Don’t Show

The LRA lists “consolidated” payments and does not break them down. For a telecom company, that total can include corporate income tax, the 15 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on telecom services, which customers pay and the company passes on, payroll taxes withheld from staff, and other levies.

This means the figures cannot be used to work out how much Orange earns. A dollar of GST a customer pays on airtime is counted the same way as a dollar of Orange’s own profit tax.

Orange has not published its Liberia revenue for this year. In 2019, during its fight with the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) over surcharges, Orange’s then general manager, Mamadou Coulibaly, put the company’s turnover at US$63.1 million. A separate figure in FrontPageAfrica’s reporting at the time was US$93.3 million.

Lonestar: First on the Air

Lonestar Cell was set up in 2000 by Beirut-based Investcom and went on air as Liberia’s first GSM network. It started with 17 towers linking Monrovia and surrounding areas, and began hiring in 2001.

MTN Group took control in 2006 when it bought Investcom, and the company became Lonestar Cell MTN. Liberian businessman Benoni Urey, through PLC Investments, holds a significant minority stake and chairs Lonestar Communications Corporation. In 2011 Lonestar held an estimated 48 percent of the market, the largest of any operator.

In May 2023, MTN said it was considering selling its operations in Liberia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Bloomberg later reported that MTN was in advanced talks with Axian Telecom. The three markets made up just 1.6 percent of MTN’s group revenue in 2022.

Lonestar denied in November 2023 that it was leaving. “Lonestar is not exiting from Liberia,” corporate communication manager Lisa White said at the time. In 2024 MTN sold its Guinea and Guinea-Bissau units to Telecel. Liberia stayed in its portfolio.

At its 20th anniversary, Lonestar reported about 1.8 million subscribers. Its MTN Mobile Money arm has reported 1.28 million subscribers. At the LRA’s most recent taxpayer awards, held this year, Lonestar MTN Mobile Money was named the top contributor in digital finance.

Orange: From Cellcom to Market Leader

Orange Liberia began life as Cellcom Liberia, which was founded in 2003 and backed by the U.S.-based investment firm YCF Group. Cellcom was an early mover on 4G data in Liberia.

In January 2016, France’s Orange Group announced it would buy 100 percent of Cellcom Liberia through Orange Côte d’Ivoire. The price was not disclosed. Orange inherited about 1.4 million subscribers and rebranded the network as Orange Liberia in 2017.

By May 2025, Orange said it had more than 3 million subscribers. That month it opened the Orange Icon16 Building, a US$10 million headquarters, and CEO Jean Marius Yao pledged US$200 million in network investment over six years. Orange Money passed 1 million subscribers in March 2025 and now holds its own LTA license as a separate company.

The LRA has repeatedly ranked Orange among its top taxpayers. Orange was the highest domestic taxpayer in fiscal year 2016/2017 and took bronze for 2023. At this year’s awards, it took the overall Gold Award, ahead of Monrovia Breweries and ArcelorMittal Liberia.

A Price War and a Regulator

The rivalry has drawn the regulator in more than once. In 2019 and 2020, both companies fought LTA surcharges on voice and data, and the Supreme Court upheld the surcharges. In a joint April 2020 letter, Orange and Lonestar said they could not pay, warning the charges could mean less investment and downsizing, or lead their parent companies to judge the Liberian businesses unsustainable.

In June 2024, Orange made Orange Money transfers free. That same month, the LTA fined both operators US$300,000 each, citing a floor-price violation and refusal to submit revenue data. “A shrinking telecom landscape is called predatory pricing,” acting LTA chairperson Abdullah Kamara said.

New rules this year require the operators to spin off mobile money into separate companies. That could matter for the tax rankings: if Lonestar’s network and its mobile money arm pay taxes separately, each would appear on the LRA list on its own.

FrontPageAfrica has reached out to Lonestar Cell MTN, Orange Liberia and the LRA for comment on the figures, including what Lonestar paid this year, whether MTN still plans to sell, and what share of Orange’s payments is GST collected from customers.