Global telecommunications giant Orange has launched Orange Money International Transfer, allowing mobile money transactions between Mali, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.
Between the three African countries more than EUR200 million (US$261.4M) is transferred through mobile money each year.
Thierry Millet, director of the strategic near field communications (NFC) and payment program at Orange said: “In launching Orange Money International Transfer today, several months of work to simplify life for our customers come to fruition.
“We are proud to be the first operator to offer customers the ability to make international money transfers between mobile phones in this area of Western Africa.”
For instance a customer in Cote d’Ivoire can send money directly to friends and family or to suppliers in Mali or Senegal with their Orange Money account.
The money is immediately available in the recipient’s account to make payments, purchases or transfers, or it can be withdrawn at a nearby location from any Orange Money distributor.
If the recipient is not yet an Orange Money customer, orange says he or she can open an account free of charge.
Orange added that it was planning to roll the service out to all its seven million customers across the 13 countries it is present in in Africa and the Middle East.
