Orange has signed its 10 millionth customer to its Orange Money payments and transfer service, with plans in place to make the proposition more smartphone friendly. The French operator passed the milestone six years after it first launched. Orange Money offers customers the opportunity to make money transfers, and pay bills and wages through their mobile devices. Last year, more than €2.2 billion worth of transactions were made. The ten millionth customer lives in Senegal and was presented with a smartphone with €152 worth of free credit, according european.Communication. Orange is currently working on new interfaces for smartphones, bolstering its international transfer network, creating new services for customers with bank accounts and developing new forms of distribution into remote regions. The network said it wanted to make its service as ubiquitous as voice, SMS and internet access is today on a mobile device.
Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, said: "Orange Money is a revolution in terms of customer experience, and the appeal of this service is the best proof that we made the right choice when we decided to offer mobile payment services in 2008.
"I am very proud to be in Dakar today to meet our 10 millionth Orange Money customer. While making a strong contribution to economic and social development, mobile financial services also represent a major growth engine in Africa and the Middle East as well as in Europe for Orange."
Among the recent new services that the operator has brought to Orange Money is international mobile to mobile transfers between Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal. Orange claimed it had a 15 percent share of that market within months of it launching. It also partnered with Visa in Botswana to give customers new services at Orange outlets, online and at licensed vending machines. It also partnered with Total to provide distribution and merchant payment in its service stations.
Orange offers the service across 13 African countries, with 40 percent of all its customers in Côte d’Ivoire also have an Orange Money account.
