If you are among the few Orange Money users, you have a little less than a month to wind up all your transaction on the mobile money, and transfer funds to another platform.
As you probably have been expecting ever since Orange telecom officially rebranded to Telkom Kenya a few weeks ago; the telecom’s mobile money is also set to undergo some changes. However, most people expected a rebranding of the mobile money service, but Telkom Kenya has decided to pull the plugs off the mobile money service.
It would appear Telkom Kenya has decided to first kill the mobile money service, before introducing an entirely new service later on. Contrary to the expectations of most people, that it would simply change the name from say, ‘Orange Money’ to ‘Telkom Money.’
Telkom Kenya is said to be working on the next level type of mobile money. One with innovative features that it just might attract users of the most popular mobile money in Kenya, M-Pesa to their new platform.
It only remains to be seen if the new mobile money service from Telkom Kenya will have that pull-factor to challenge M-Pesa’s firm grip on the local economy.
What to do with your current Orange Money funds
If you have money in your Orange Money mobile money wallet, the next couple of weeks might be a little be harder to use the platform as the previous days. First of all, starting tomorrow (July 5th), Telkom Kenya will deactivate the following functions:
Ø The *144# shortcode will no longer work
Ø Orange Money SIM toolkit will cease to be functional
These are the early steps in the journey of killing off Orange Money and over the next 30 days. Any remaining transactions on the mobile money will be only available through bank-based transactions. In fact, upon the eventual closure of the service, users will have to go to Equity Bank to collect any money left in their Orange Money wallet.
Any transactions you will make while at the Equity Bank will only be effected after you have entered the PIN you use for your Orange Money account. You can find the mobile money services at any Equity Bank branch near you.