French-owned mobile network provider Orange has launched its mobile money service in Uganda in partnership with Post Bank and Pride Microfinance, two of the country’s major financial institutions.
Orange Uganda CEO Philippe Luxcey said: “Orange Money has already been launched by Orange in several other markets across Africa and has a proven track record for its reliability and high level of security.”
Commenting on the partnership with Post Bank and Pride Microfinance, he said by launching the service in Uganda in partnership with the two financial institutions Orange will provide the best possible mobile payment service for our customers.
The company intends to follow other market leaders in providing the service to its customers and enable them to use Orange Money to pay for bills like water and electricity, and also cashless purchasing of goods.
With the rising cases of mobile money fraud, Orange Money customers will be required to change their passwords after every stipulated period. This is in addition to entering their personal identification numbers (PIN) to access the service.
“When sending money for the first time, an Orange Money customer will have to dial a number to confirm the transaction,” Luxcey said. “When several transactions are logged within an hour, the customer will receive a message requesting confirmation; failure to confirm will automatically cancel the transactions.”
The company may be looking at new revenue streams after reports that it continually lost battles to the giants in the Uganda telecommunications sector such as MTN Uganda, which has the largest subscriber base in the country, over 5.6 million, attributed to its low pricing and MTN Mobile Money Transfer system.
How Orange intends to take a share of this market is yet to become clear as the service is still in its infancy.
