This partnership builds on the existing “Orange Money International Transfer” offer, which enables Orange Money customers based in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali to carry out cross-border money transfers. Since its introduction in July 2013, the service has been a considerable success with over 200,000 users to date.

“Following the successful launch of Orange Money International Transfer between Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, we want to develop new ways to allow our customers to send and receive money between countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union.” said Thierry Millet, Orange’s Senior VP Mobile Financial Services and NFC.

“We are very happy to launch this service between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, which meets one of the region’s biggest needs,” he added

With “Orange Money International Transfer”, Orange Money customers can easily use their mobile phones to transfer electronic money in real-time. The customer simply connects to his or her Orange Money account on their mobile phone, and enters the recipient’s number and the amount to be sent. Funds are then immediately available in the mobile wallet of the beneficiary, who can then pay bills, purchase goods or make transfers from wherever they are, or make a withdrawal at any nearby Orange Money distribution point.

The same applies to Airtel customers based in Burkina Faso using their own mobile wallets.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 39 billion euros in 2014 and 156,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2014, including 99 400 employees in France. Present in 29 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 244 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2014, including 185 million mobile customers and 16 million fixed broadband customers.

(image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight)

The European Commission in conjunction with the European Data industry has pledged €2.5 billion in a public-private partnership (PPP) in order to reinforce Europe’s data sector.

The EU will contribute €500 million of the tax-payer’s money over the next five years, to the industry consortium’s €2 billion purse.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes spoke of the matter:

“Data is the motor and foundation of the future economy. Every kind of organisation needs the building blocks to boost their performance, from farm to factory, from the lab to the shop floor.”

What this could mean for Europe is as follows:

1) up to 30% of the global data Market for European suppliers;

2) 100,000 new data-related jobs in Europe by 2020;

3) 10% lower energy consumption, better health-care outcomes and more productive industrial machinery.

An MoU has been signed by the European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes and President of the Big Data Value Association, Jan Sundelin, representing companies like ATOS, Nokia Solutions, Networks, Orange, SAP, SIEMENS, and research bodies such as Fraunhofer and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence.

Due to start on 1 January 2015, the partnership will emphasize “public, private and academic research efforts to support research and “innovation in game-changing big data ideas in fields such as energy, manufacturing and health to deliver services like personalised medicine, food logistics and predictive analytics,” explained the EU press release.

Among other things, “Innovation Spaces” will be established to provide secure environments for experimenting with both private and open data, while simultaneously be a business incubator and hub for the “development of skills and best practices.”

European Commission’s recent policy on Big Data and action plan to fast-track the development of Europe’s data-driven economy sees this PPP as the maiden move towards its Big Data ambitions.

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(Image Credit: Rock Cohen)