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Sonatel & BICIS together to launch Orange Money (Senegal)

  • November 17th, 2008
  • 11:28 am

Sonatel (Senegalese operator) and banking group BICIS have signed a contract to develop Orange Money as the country’s first mobile bill paying and domestic money transfer service. Sonatel and BICIS have met the regulatory and technical pre-requisites to offer the service next year. To transfer money to other Orange money user, the fund, have to be deposited into their Orange Money account at an accredited partner’s location. At any accredited outlet, customer will be able to withdraw money from their Orange account. For the Validation and Confirmation of transactions and a PIN number for security, SMS can be used. Customers will be able to buy Orange Mobile top-ups from their Orange Money account.

Orange Senegal fined USD6.7m for poor service (Senegal)

  • September 3rd, 2007
  • 3:20 pm

State authorities in Senegal have upheld a fine of USD6.7 million on one of the country’s mobile operators, Orange Senegal (formerly Sonatel Mobile), for its repeated failure to provide an adequate service on its cellular network. The State Council has endorsed an earlier fine imposed in January this year by the telecoms regulator, the Telecommunication and Postal Regulation Agency (ARTP), after repeated interruptions on its network. Sonatel, Orange Senegal’s parent, had launched an appeal which was rejected by the ARTP which deemed there was ‘no other recourse at this point.’ Orange Senegal was issued with a legal notice in 2006 after customers experienced ‘repeated cellular telephone network interruptions’, and in April this year the regulator threatened to double the fine after the cellco’s users complained of more outages. Orange Senegal has around two million mobile users, but subscribers regularly experience an erratic service which the company blames on ‘ongoing repair work’.

   

 

 

 

FT’s Orange Bissau unit opens for business

  • May 30th, 2007
  • 10:00 am

Orange Bissau, the mobile unit set up by France Télécom through its 42.33% owned Senegalese subsidiary Sonatel, launched services in the country last Friday, making it the third operator in the local market. Orange Bissau will initially operate in the capital Bissau and will also provide coverage in the north towards the border with Senegal. The newcomer’s mid-term plan is to extend its reach to the south and east of the country by the year end, providing coverage of most of the 1.5 million population.

Sonatel acquired a mobile phone operator licence for Guinea-Bissau in March 2007. No financial details of the award were disclosed, but Sonatel is known to have beat off rival bids from four other firms, including US-based Global Voice, to secure the concession. At the time, Sonatel director Fernando Lacerda said his company’s proposal was adjudged to be better than bids from Global Voice, Teylium of Mauritius, Lintel Africa (based in the Cayman Islands) and local company 3 Tel. Sonatel’s newly created Orange Bissau unit will compete with incumbents Guiné Telecom (Guiné Tel) and Spacetel Guinea-Bissau (Areeba).