By Dan Muhuni
Orange has partnered with PesaPal- an e-commerce payment platform provider to enable its customers enjoy the convenience of virtual airtime top ups.
Orange has partnered with PesaPal- an e-commerce payment platform provider to enable its customers enjoy the convenience of virtual airtime top ups.
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| Orange CEO Mickael Ghossein |
Through
the service, customers will be able to make an online purchase of
Orange airtime; choosing a preferred mode of payment – either via
PesaPal’s e-wallet, credit and debit cards (VISA and Master Card) or
through mobile money transfer solutions.
Speaking during the launch Orange CEO Mickael Ghossein said that Orange is taking a differentiated
approach on airtime top-up; supplementing the conventional airtime
distribution channels with the convenience and benefits of online
payments and electronic airtime distribution.
“The
service aims to grow our airtime distribution by leveraging on existing
e-commerce platforms,” said Ghossein, adding that the new top-up
service aims to facilitate Orange data customers, who have their voice
lines with alternative operators, to top up directly from their
respective mobile money accounts.
“Our
data customers that may have subscribed to other networks due to their
voice offerings will now have the flexibility of purchasing data bundles
directly from their mobile money accounts,” he said, adding that this
was informed by the fact that Kenya’s mobile telecoms market is
characterised by multi-SIM users, with subscribers using different SIM
cards from various networks for different services such as voice and
data.
PesaPal
CEO Agosta Liko said that Orange and PesaPal have a strategic
partnership on the technical solution and distribution modes for Orange
Airtime.
“The
service is easy to use allowing the customer convenient access as well
as a simplified means of toping up their airtime,” he said.
A customer can make the online airtime purchase through three sites: https://myaccount.orange.co.ke; www.orange.co.ke and https://www.pesapal.com;
“A
step-by-step guide is available for each payment mode selected,” noted
Liko, adding that the customer will receive an SMS notification
confirming the top up.
The online payments deal is also intended to extend to the payment of other product and service offerings from Orange.
The
Orange/PesaPal deal is further testimony to the crucial role mobile
money solutions play in enhancing business transactions, as stated by
the Communications Commission of Kenya, Fourth Quarter Industry
statistics, released in October 2012, noting a 2.73 per cent growth in
mobile money transfer service subscriptions, from 18.98 million recorded
the previous quarter to 19.50 million.
