The mobile payment becomes a reality in Côte d’Ivoire with Orange Money, a service launched in partnership with BNP Paribas, to deposit, transfer money and pay bills from his mobile phone.
Orange has announced the commercial launch of ‘Orange Money’ in Ivory Coast in alliance with BNP Paribas.Wireless operator Orange is testing in the Ivory Coast a new money transfer system: Orange Money. Strategies Telecom & Media interviews Marc Rennard, executive director in charge of Orange’s operations in Africa, Middle-East and Asia. about Orange Money. As we’ve seen previously with M-PESA in Kenya, the mobile operators are focusing much of their mobile payments initiatives on markets where a large majority of the population is unbanked. Marc Rennard, Orange’s international executive director for the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Region, said, ‘We are delighted that Orange Money has been launched for the first time in the Ivory Coast. This event marks the start of the service’s deployment in other Orange countries over the coming months.’ Amadou Kane, head of the Africa Region for BNP Paribas said, ‘Through the launch of this service in the Ivory Coast, then in other countries, BNP Paribas is committed to supporting the gradual improvement of access to banking services for many low-income households that do not have access to traditional banking services.’
We have several times in our columns raised the interest to bring banking services on mobile phones in emerging countries to promote the development of local economy. By accessing the possibility to deposit and transfer money in a secure manner in areas where ATMs are few physical or tens of miles away, it is possible to help entrepreneurs accelerate their trade, thus contributing to the growth of a region or a country.
Thus, the operator Orange announced the commercial launch, after a test phase, the initiative Orange Money in Côte d’Ivoire, in partnership with BNP Paribas. It is a set of banking services accessible from a mobile phone can draw a number of transfers of money.
Banking on secure phone
The service provides deposit or withdraw money from an account Orange Money, of transfers from owners, purchase credits communications or pay bills with his phone.
Users do not need to have a bank account. they just have to scor
e at Orange where an Orange Money can be created for free. The service is secure to prevent theft or fraud, with guarantees on transactions with the regulations of the UEMOA (Economic and Monetary Union West Africa).
Marc Rennard, International Executive Director of Orange for the Africa zone, “by launching Orange Money today in Côte d’Ivoire, we implement several months working to achieve an offer that will simplify the lives of our customers by giving them the feasibility of banking operations easily from their mobile, simply and safely. ”
The launch in Côte d’Ivoire should be followed by an extension to several other countries in which the operator, which is developing very strongly in African countries, is present. This initiative is part of leading economic thinking to prefer heavy financial aid but not always effective to develop the economic fabric by local entrepreneurs themselves.
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Orange Money is launched in Ivory Coast since Dec 2008. Despite aggressive marketing, Orange money service is not able to pick up. the response is very poor in the market. The question is on the concept/idea itself. Banks do not have any fee for any kind of transaction, but in Mobile-Orange Money fee is levied. Also the application is very cumbersome to use on USSD platform. Too complete a single request user need to enter 3-6 inputs, which is time consuming. This service also requires subscriber capacity to use the mobile phone. Most of the people not very familiar with the value added service available on mobile, people are just familiar with