By Francois Giudice, Correspondent France

Orange Middle East and Africa has selected Ericsson as a strategic partner for its pan-African Orange Money service, tapping Ericsson’s Wallet Platform to accelerate financial inclusion for its customers across fourteen African countries.

Ericsson Wallet Platform – Ericsson’s Mobile Financial Services solution – is a leading financial services platform built on the latest security technologies and open architecture framework principles

Orange Money has grown rapidly since it was launched in 2008. The service is now available to more than 60 million subscribers in seventeen countries across Africa and the Middle East, where it facilitated more than EUR 62 billion(US$72.72billion) in transactions in 2020 alone.

The offering provides financial services through a flexible and simple mobile phone interface, without the need for a bank account. Orange Money customers can securely store, transfer and withdraw money and pay merchants and utility providers, among other essential financial services.

Orange Middle East and Africa will deploy Ericsson’s Mobile Financial Services solutions in phases across fourteen of the countries in its Orange Money footprint, starting with Senegal.

Ericsson’s solution will provide a more agile and compliant IT architecture to enhance performance in managing the flow of transactions.

By strengthening Orange’s core mobile money platform, Ericsson will help promote financial inclusion and economic development across these countries.

More than 300 million people worldwide currently use Ericsson’s Wallet Platform solutions, delivered by communications service providers.

Chairman and CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa Alioune Ndiaye says: “Stable, secure, reliable and compliant mobile financial services are fundamental to building the foundations of economic growth for many people in Africa. As we continue to work to support our customers and enhance the services offered to them, we are very pleased to work with Ericsson as their financial services platform is built upon the latest security technologies and open architecture framework principles which can further expand our ecosystem and achieve our vision of financial inclusion in Africa.”

President Ericsson Middle East and Africa, Fadi Pharaon says: “This is a new milestone in our long-standing partnership with Orange Middle East and Africa. With Ericsson’s industry leading and state-of-the-art Mobile Financial Services Platform, this partnership enables Orange Middle East and Africa to achieve its vision to accelerate financial inclusion in Africa. This anchors Ericsson’s technology leadership position in offering the most advanced and innovative Mobile Financial Services and further contributing to the economic development of Africa.”