Burkina Faso and Morocco are included on a list of countries in Africa where one can receive direct Orange Money remittances from France.

The two countries join Ivory Coast, Guinea, Madagascar and Mali to access the international money transfer solution offered by the French multinational telco.

According to Orange, the new remittance corridors have been operational since 8 May 2020 for Burkina Faso and 20 May 2020 for Morocco.

This means an Orange Money account holder based in France can securely transfer money, and in real time, directly to a recipient’s Orange Money account in any of the two countries.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the payment corridor provides another way to fight against the transmission of the virus as no cash changes hands, Orange officials said.

The telecoms company claims that by encouraging the use of mobile money, they are helping to bring families closer and facilitating their mutual support.

Christian Bombrun, Senior Vice President Products and Services, Orange France, said, “The health crisis we are going through has shown that mobile-to- mobile money transfer is a key benefit for our customers. Money transfer users in France have massively turned to Orange Money to instantly and securely send money to their loved ones in Mali, Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Guinea. The opening of two new corridors, in Burkina Faso and Morocco, is an important step in Orange Money’s development strategy worldwide.”

The company said will continue with the expansion of its international money transfer service to other markets in the world where it has operations.

Ben Cheick Haidara, Chairman of the Orange Money Burkina Faso Board of Directors, said the development addresses a real need of their customers. “Opening up international money transfers from France to Burkina Faso will cement the use of Orange Money in the daily lives of our population, alongside other existing services.”

Yves Gauthier, CEO of Orange Morocco, said the company is keen to provide customers with an alternative to traditional means of receiving money from abroad.

In West Africa, Orange was the first operator to launch a mobile-to-mobile international money transfer solution in 2013, involving Mali, Senegal and the Ivory Coast. Orange has been supporting the development of new digital services in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East. With 123 million customers as of March 31, 2020, and 5.6 billion euros in turnover in 2019 (6% annual growth), Orange MEA is the group’s main region of growth.

An Orange spokesperson said the opening of a corridor with Cameroon is next on the Orange roadmap, but that timing remains undetermined because this is subject to approval by the central bank of the country - BEA