Orange Launches Money Transfers between Three African Countries

France Telecom's Orange the first offer for mobile-to-mobile money transfers between three different African countries- Mali, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire and a quick international money transfer service at a competitive price called "Orange Money International Transfer".

Every year, 200 million euros are moved between those three countries in the form of money transfers. With the new service, Orange meets the needs of the growing number of Orange Money customers.

Orange Money International Transfer allows money to be sent and received from one’s mobile phone with complete security. Users no longer need to have cash with them when they travel, and sending cash doesn't have to be done by a third party.

For example, 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. All the sender needs to do is to dial #144# from his or her mobile phone, then enter the Orange telephone number of the recipient and the amount to be sent.

The money is immediately available in the recipient’s account to make payments, purchases or transfers, or it can be withdrawn at a nearby location from any Orange Money distributor.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, he or she can easily open an account free of charge.

“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,” says Thierry Millet, Director of the strategic NFC and payment program at Orange.

Orange’s goal is to expand this first-of-a-kind service in Africa to other countries in which the Group is present. Available in 13 countries in Africa and the Middle East, Orange Money has more than 7 million customers today.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 43.5 billion euros in 2012 and has 170,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2013, including 104 000 employees in France.

Present in 32 countries, the Group has a total customer base close to 230 million customers at 31 March 2013, including 172 million mobile customers and 15 million broadband internet (ADSL, fibre) customers worldwide. Under the Orange Business Services brand, Orange is also one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

Etisalat seeks control of Maroc Telecom

Faced with stagnating revenues in West Africa, UAE’s Etisalat is hoping a majority stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom will invigorate growth there by creating a regional telecoms powerhouse with more than 25 million mobile subscribers, people familiar with the matter said.

Etisalat, which last month expressed an interest in French conglomerate Vivendi SA’s 53 per cent stake in Maroc, sees significant cost and revenue synergies between its operations across six African countries and Maroc’s subsidiaries in West Africa, the people, who didn’t want to be named because a deal is still being negotiated, said.

Etisalat is already present in Benin, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Niger, Central African Republic and Togo, while Maroc Telecom has subsidiaries in Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and also Gabon. Maroc Telecom would manage the combined assets of the two companies in the region, the people familiar with Etisalat’s plans said.

“They see the synergy of the deal not in further optimisation in Maroc Telecom but in integrating their countries with the other countries for Maroc Telecom and creating this Francophone powerhouse along the coast of Western Africa,” said one person familiar with the matter.

Etisalat’s revenues have remained broadly flat across its African operations over the past four quarters and operating profits have been falling, even as subscribers have grown, according to its latest quarterly presentation to analysts. Capital expenditure has also been decreasing in the past year.

Across the Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Gabon, Niger, C.A.R., and two other African operations, Tanzania and Sudan, subscribers increased 29 per cent to 12.2 million in the fourth quarter compared with the same period earlier, while revenue remained flat at Dh709 million ($193 million).

Maroc Telecom, meanwhile, grew revenue by 18 per cent across its West Africa subsidiaries last year and increased operating profit margins from 40.2 per cent to 46.5 per cent as subscribers grew 32 per cent to nearly 13 million.

Etisalat submitted a preliminary expression of interest for the Maroc Telecom stake last month. France Telecom SA, Doha’s Qatar Telecom and Korean operator KT Corp have all also publicly expressed an interest as well.

Vivendi SA has been looking to sell its 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom since last summer, as part of a broader strategic shift of the company away from telecommunications and its media and content assets.

Maroc Telecom To Invest $1.2 Billion In Morocco’s Broadband Network

Maroc Telecom (Maroc) would invest 10 billion Moroccan dirhams ($1.2 billion) to upgrade the country’s broadband network, Morocco’s biggest telecoms company said on Wednesday.

Maroc, which is 53 percent owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and 30 percent owned by the Moroccan government, said it would invest this money between 2013 and 2015 financial years.

The company will also invest 4 billion dirhams ($477 million) in other African countries where it has operations. These countries include Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mali over the same period.

Maroc Telecom had already invested 25 billion dirhams ($3 billion) in Morocco, it said in a statement to the French securities exchange.

The company made this announcement at the time when Etisalat ETEL.AD, the United Arab Emirates’ largest telecommunications operator, said it is interested in buying Vivendi’s 53 percent stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom.

French conglomerate Vivendi is exploring selling several assets as part of an on-going strategic review intended to pay down debt, boost a flagging share price and reduce the group’s exposure to capital-intensive telecom businesses.

Maroc Telecom, in which Vivendi first bought a stake in 2001, offers fixed-line, mobile and internet services in the kingdom, and is also one of Africa’s main telecom operators.

Qatar Telecom QTEL.QA, the state-owned operator, has hired J.P. Morgan Chase to advise it on a potential bid for the stake.

South Korea’s KT Corp is also said to be considering a bid for the unit, which Vivendi hopes will fetch 5.5 billion euros ($7.31 billion), two people familiar with the matter said last month.

Africa Mobile Subscriber base - Total mobile connections in African countries

Africa is 2nd largest in terms of subscribers

The data given below considers 25 African countries which contain 91% of the continent’s mobile connections. It is not possible due to some regions to collect the data for all African countries.

Africa has become the second largest mobile country in the world, overtaking Latin America. Its now only second to Asia in terms of number of subscribers.

Over the last 10 years the mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30% per year.

Africa continues to be the fastest growing mobile market in the world

The African market is highly price competitive and has experienced significant price reductions in the recent years.

Country	Mobile subs.	%
Nigeria NGA Egypt EGY South Africa ZAF Algeria ALG  Morocco MAR  Kenya KEN Sudan1 SDN  Tanzania TZA  Ghana GHA Côte d’Ivoire CIV Uganda UGA DR Congo COD  Tunisia TUN  Ethiopia ETH Libya LBY Angola AGO  Cameroon CMR Mali MLI Senegal SEN Zimbabwe ZWE  Benin BEN Mozambique MOZ Burkina Faso BFA Zambia ZMB Madagascar MDG Others	89,343,017 80,616,921 59,474,500 36,741,368 36,522,899 26,135,115 24,628,765 23,334,395 20,049,412 17,991,035 14,754,199 14,098,685 12,254,728 11,902,288 11,158,560 10,797,078 10,658,991 10,000,229 9,686,372 8,281,749 7,996,577 7,750,845 6,740,148 6,544,630 6,147,499 56,190,285	14% 13% 10% 6%  6%  4%  4%  4%  3%  3%  2%  2%  2%  2%  2%  2%  2%  2%  2%  1%  1%  1%  1%  1%  1%  9%
Total	619,800,290	100%