Orange Money reaches four million customers and launches in Jordan and Mauritius
Orange Money has reached the threshold of four million customers in Africa and the Middle East and has announced its commercial launch in Jordan and Mauritius. These two additional countries mean that the service is now available in 10 countries across the region.
Orange Money, the Group's mobile payment service, was first launched in Côte d'Ivoire in December 2008. It has since been made available in Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Over the past few weeks, the service has also been launched in Jordan and Mauritius, in line with Orange's goal to launch the service in all 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the Group operates.
In only eighteen months Orange Money has quadrupled its customer base, which now covers 14% of all Orange customers in these 10 countries. In Madagascar, over a third of all customers have opened an Orange Money account, while in Côte d'Ivoire daily transactions now exceed one billion CFA francs per day. This exponential growth attests to the strong consumer appetite for a mobile payment service in countries where the population has limited access to bank accounts but is widely equipped with mobile phones.
Orange Money accounts are free. It allows customers to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security. The three key services include: money transfers, where users can send money using their phone to any Orange Money customer in the country; financial services, including solutions facilitating savings and insurance (according to the country); payments, giving users an easier way to pay their bills, as well as providing a simple way to buy mobile phone credit.
These two last categories of service are growing quickly, Orange Money stated. Thanks to partnerships with local service providers, Orange Money customers can pay some of their bills with their mobile phone. This is enables customers to benefit from the comfort and flexibility of a remote payment system and in many cases allows them to avoid a long and difficult journey. For example, Orange Money customers can already pay their electricity bills in Senegal or their water bills in Jordan.
In addition to payment, Orange Money also provides customers who do not have a bank account with a way to save money. In Madagascar, for example, customers can now sign-up to a life insurance scheme.
Commenting on the development of Orange Money, Marc Rennard, Orange's Executive Director for AMEA operations, stated: 'Orange Money plays an important role in driving growth in our activities in emerging markets, allowing us to contribute to the economic and social development of these countries, while improving our customers' loyalty.'
