With its large footprint in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Orange Group has been offering extended services, including financial services and energy, for several years. Now the French MNO is expanding further to offer IoT services to energy providers in MEA, with a platform to manage IoT devices. The platform supports both pay-as-you-go solar equipment and prepaid smart meters and is described as providing a “solution to the profitability challenges faced by energy producers in Africa, by reducing the risk of non-payment.” Orange Smart Energies is a software platform that allows Orange to partner with energy producers in Africa and the Middle East. In combination with Orange Money, the platform arranges payments by customers via these mobile money services.…