Orange Money reaches 4 million customers and launches in Jordan and Mauritius

PARIS, France, June 18, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Orange Money (http://www.orange.com) has reached the threshold of 4 million customers in Africa and the Middle East and celebrates its commercial launch in Jordan and Mauritius. These two additional countries mean that the service is now available in 10 countries across the region.

Logo Orange: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/orange-logo.jpg

Orange Money, the Group's mobile payment service, was first launched in Côte d'Ivoire in December 2008. It has since been made available in Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Over the past few weeks, the service has also been launched in Jordan and Mauritius, in line with Orange's goal to launch the service in all 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the Group operates.

In only eighteen months, Orange Money has quadrupled its customer base, which now covers 14% of all Orange customers in these 10 countries. In Madagascar, over a third of all customers have opened an Orange Money account, while in Côte d'Ivoire daily transactions now exceed one billion CFA francs per day. This exponential growth attests to the strong consumer appetite for this innovative, simple and practical mobile payment service in countries where the population has limited access to bank accounts but is widely equipped with mobile phones.

Access to Orange Money is very easy: mobile phone customers may open an Orange Money account for free whether or not they have a bank account. It allows customers to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security. The three key services include:

 money transfers, where users can send money using their phone to any Orange Money customer in the country;

 financial services, including solutions facilitating savings and insurance (according to the country);

 payments, giving users an easier way to pay their bills, as well as providing a simple way to buy mobile phone credit.

These two last categories of service are growing quickly. Thanks to partnerships with local service providers, Orange Money customers can pay some of their bills with their mobile phone. This is enables customers to benefit from the comfort and flexibility of a remote payment system and in many cases allows them to avoid a long and difficult journey. For example, Orange Money customers can already pay their electricity bills in Senegal or their water bills in Jordan.

In addition to payment, Orange Money also provides customers who do not have a bank account with a way to save money. In Madagascar, for example, customers can now sign-up to a life insurance scheme.

Commenting on the development of Orange Money, Marc Rennard, Orange's Executive Director for AMEA operations, stated that: “Orange Money plays an important role in driving growth in our activities in emerging markets, allowing us to contribute to the economic and social development of these countries, while improving our customers' loyalty.”

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of Orange.

Discover the presentation of Orange Money: www.orange-innovation.tv/en/webtv/info_interviews/world-pulse/africa_middle_east/orange_money_4_millions_users_already

About Orange

France Telecom-Orange (http://www.orange.com) is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with 171,000 employees worldwide, including 105,000 employees in France, and sales of 10.9 billion euros in the first three months of 2012. Present in 33 countries, the Group had a customer base of 225 million customers at 31 March 2012, including 181 million customers under the Orange brand, the Group's single brand for internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. At 31 March 2012, the Group had 166 million mobile customers and 15 million broadband internet (ADSL, fibre) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

With its industrial project, "conquests 2015", Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group's ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development.

France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

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