Orange Belgium
has increased
its 4G coverage
in the Walloon
region
Project reduces high costs
of money transfers to
developing countries
S
ince reaching an agreement with the
Walloon government in December
2016 over the region’s pylon tax, Orange
Belgium has invested more than €13
million to improve mobile broadband
access in the Walloon region and brought
4G mobile coverage to the population in
39 municipalities with inadequate fix and
mobile service.
Today, Orange Belgium’s 4G network reaches
98% of the population in these ‘white zones’
and indoor coverage has risen to up to 94%.
An illustration of this positive trend: Orange
Belgium installed an innovative technical
solution in Vresse-sur-Semois to offer 4G to
96% of the inhabitants.
In 2016, the Walloon government and the
three mobile telecommunication operators
in Belgium reached a three-year agreement
to improve coverage in the territory, paving
the way for an ambitious collaboration on
the digital Wallonia of tomorrow.
The Walloon Region engaged itself to
discourage taxes levied by municipalities
and provinces and it has implemented a
legislative, regulatory and administrative
framework designed to facilitate the
deployment of this infrastructure.
D
eputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Development Cooperation, Alexander
De Croo, has joined forces with IOM,
the UN Migration Agency, to build a
comprehensive price comparison app for
international money transfers (remittances).
In return, mobile operators agreed to invest a
total of €60 million over three years on top of
the investment already planned for the region. The collaboration between Belgium and
IOM must provide users with objective
information about the transfer rates.
Today, many providers offer remittances
services at very high rates.
In line with the agreement, Orange Belgium
has already invested €13 million in the
Walloon Region to boost mobile coverage in
residential areas where it was inadequate, as
well as in areas with a particular advantage
or specific needs (areas of economic,
industrial, commercial or touristic activity). Belgium will support the development of
MigApp, an app that provides objective
information to migrants about migration
and that includes a price comparison
tool for international money transfers.
Remittances are the private funds that
migrants send to their home countries.
In 2016, there were still 50,000 people
without any 4G coverage in the Walloon
Region municipalities. Today, they can enjoy
4G quality and speed of Orange. In total, the
213,000 citizens of these 39 municipalities
can stay connected anytime. At the request of Minister De Croo, IOM is
expanding the app so that all 14 partner
countries of the Belgian Development
Cooperation can be integrated in the
price comparison tool.
www.intelligentcio.com
This extension has been made possible
thanks to a new partnership between
IOM and RemitRadar, an online FinTech
provider active in the field of remittances.
With the app, users will be able to assess
the cheapest service provider options for
sending money home.
Belgium is one of the four pilot countries
where the app has been launched. Other
EU pilot countries are Greece, Ireland
and the Netherlands.
Alexander De Croo commented: “The new
price comparison tool should contribute
to a decrease in the rates, which are much
too high at the moment. In some cases,
one can even speak about extortionate
prices. By giving an easy access for the
users to information about the cheapest
and fastest option, we aim at stimulating
the competition. More and more FinTech
enterprises are investing in mobile
money, which rates are, on average, half
of the classic money transfers via the
main popular players.”
INTELLIGENTCIO
19