Mobile News Africa

Botswana's Orange is green for go for a whole new world

Orange World has just been launched in Botswana with a range of new services that include Mobile Email, MMS (Multimedia messaging), Orange Internet and the Orange World portal.

Gaborone – Orange has announced the launch of Orange World, a bouquet of mobile data and internet services, available as of December 17.

The company delivers a mobile broadband experience to customers with a range of exciting new services made possible by EDGE and GPRS technology. The new bouquet functions with most EDGE/GPRS mobile phones on the Orange network.

The company will be offering countrywide GPRS coverage. EDGE, which operates up to 3-4 times faster than GPRS, will also be available in selected areas in most major towns in Botswana.

Orange World includes:

• Mobile Email (Access to the customer's existing email address or corporate email account on a public server or Yahoo! Mail Plus, Google mail, etc). With this solution, emails, contacts, calendar entries and tasks are sent automatically to the customer's mobile phone. For a limited period, until 17 February 2008, Mobile Email is completely free provided customers subscribe for a 1 or 2-year option. Postpaid customers: Price from 18 February 2008 customers can subscribe to Mobile Email for P150 per month, on a 12-month bundle or a 24-month bundle. Customers will receive two months free if they sign for 12 months and three months free if they sign for 24 months - plus free access to Orange World. Alternatively, customer's can subscribe on a month-by-month basis. At the end of the period, they can request continuation or the service will stop automatically. Prepaid customers: From 18 February 2008 prepaid customers can subscribe to Mobile Email at P150 per month. In addition, they will receive free access to Orange World. For a full list of compatible handsets or to know if a handset is compatible customer's can contact the Orange Call Centre on 123.

• Orange Internet will allow the customer to connect to the Internet, their email and Orange World while on the move. They can stay connected for as long as they like and only pay for the information they send and receive. They do not pay for the time they spend connected. Until 17 February 2008, Orange Internet is completely free provided the customer subscribes for a 1 or 2-year option. When customers take a 12-month contract they will get two months for free and when they take a 24 month contract they will get three months for free. From 18 February 2008 customers can either use the Easy data tariff option which is the default charging option or they can opt for the appropriate Data bundle that suits their needs and usage habits. By default, all customers with compatible devices will have access to Orange Internet on the default Easy Data tariff. On this tariff, customers pay as you use at a cost of P3.00 per megabyte (MB). Alternatively, customers can subscribe to one of three data bundles: Data10, for P25 per month – 10MB, 10 free MMS and modem subsidy; Data 100, for P150 per month – 100MB, 50 free MMS and modem subsidy, or Infinite Data, for P450 per month – unlimited downloads, 100 free MMS and free modem.

• MMS (Multimedia messaging) brings the world of multimedia to the customer's handset. MMS enables the customer to add and combine a picture, with a short video, sound & voice clips and text (including the ability to send and receive sound and video clips and super long SMS)

• Orange World portal: On Orange World customers can find a wide range of useful information, cool ringtones and wallpapers to personalize their mobile phone and a comprehensive offer of exciting entertainment content. Free until February 17, from 18 February 2008, the following costs will apply. Postpaid and prepaid: Customers will be able to access Orange World on a pay-as-you-use basis. This will give customer's free access to a large portion of the news and infotainment content. Premium content download categories such as games, ringtones, logos, videos and music will be charged as follows: polyphonic ring tones P2 per download, entertainment, wallpapers P3 per download, true tones P4 per download, video clips P10 per download and games P15 per download. In addition, everyone on the Orange network will have one selected download per premium content category (above categories), free.

Commenting on the new service Mamadou Bamba, Orange's CEO, said the company is rolling out the new service throughout Botswana, “So, wherever Orange customers can make a call they will be able to use these exciting new Orange World services”.

For further information of the new services, visit the Orange website

Let's do Biz