(Telecompaper) Orange aims to grow revenue 20 percent by 2018 across its markets in Africa and the Middle East, the group's senior executive vice president for AMEA said at a presentation in London. The operator intends to grow EBITDA by a larger margin by using virtualisation technologies to monitor networks in 10 West and Central Africa markets from facilities in Dakar and Abidjan. "This has never been done in the world," he said, explain that the main aim is to reduce indirect costs. Rennard told Light Reading on the event's sidelines, "We will sign a contract in the next couple of weeks and it will be implemented by the end of the year." Orange reported around EUR 1.1 billion of revenue in Africa and the Middle East in the first quarter, 6.8 percent more than in the year-earlier period. It hopes to capitalise on the rising demand for mobile data, mobile money and B2B services.