Orange won the “Best New Service” award at the AfricaCom Awards 2011. The awards are a unique annual celebration of innovation and the highest achievements across the communications industry in Africa. An independent panel of judges adjudicates.
Orange won the “Best New Service” award for Surf & Pay, a service that aims to facilitate access to the Internet. Surf & Pay is a system for sharing and re-charging Internet access, designed for hotels and internet cafés that want to provide their customers with Internet access using WiFi. It also allows individuals to share the costs of broadband Internet access with their neighbours, using a payment interface that is both flexible and secure. Up to 20 people can be connected to the service, and each of them will pay according to the time and volume consumed. The service is already availbale in Uganda and will soon be launched in Kenya; outside Africa, it is also availbale to Orange customers in Armenia.
Commenting after receiving the award, Marc Rennard, Executive Vice President responsible for Africa, the Middle East and Asia at Orange said: "We believe that by developing products and services that provide widespread access to the Internet and by offering solutions that are specifically designed for small and medium-sized companies, we can contribute to the economic and social development of Africa and the Middle East. This award praises the quality of the work accomplished by our teams in designing innovative services adapted to the African continent.”
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