French micropayment solutions provider Optelo partners with Paymium to enable Bitcoin payments.

French Optelo, a subsidiary focusing on micropayment technologies owned by Adverline, announced on November 4, it had partnered up with Bitcoin exchange and payment solutions provider Paymium to allow merchants to receive payments in bitcoins, reads the official announcement.

Optelo CEO Nordine Ouriachi said his company wishes to offer the "most extensive range of payment solutions to its partners," and was very pleased to offer a Bitcoin payment solution as it was "entirely in tune with the needs of [its] customers, especially for the 'casual gaming' market."

Optelo was founded in 2002 by online advertising network Adverline. In 2012, Adverline was acquired by a subsidiary of Le Groupe La Poste, MEDIAPOST. Le Groupe La Poste focuses on three main activities: mail services, package delivery and banking services; and is 100% owned by public shareholders: 73,68% by the State, and 26,32% by Caisse des Dépôts, a French financial organization part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament.

The group is Europe's top second leader in local services, with over 270 branches in France and around the world. In 2013, the company generated 22,084 m€ in revenue, among which 47.4% from its mail service activity, 26.9% from its packages delivery activity and 25% from its banking activity. As of today, Le Groupe La Poste is France’s second employer, following the State itself.

Bitcoin complements Optelo's wider range of payment solutions, which includes Audiotel, SMS Premium, Carte Bleue, Internet+ Box, Internet+ Mobile, and most recently Paypal. The company provides micropayment solutions to merchants in over 60 different countries, and is said to process "couple millions of transactions every month."

Formerly Bitcoin-Central, Paymium is a Bitcoin company headquartered in Paris, which offers various services, including a Bitcoin exchange platform, a lightweight wallet called Paytunia, and launched in late June, its merchant solution with instant conversion to euro, without fee, and for every European merchant, according to the release.

Paymium's partnership with Optelo, is one step further to its wider European expansion, said Paymium co-founder Gonzague Grandval. He added:

"Paymium is really proud to partner with Optelo and to give its merchants the ability to accept bitcoins. Thus, Bitcoin complements the wider range of payment solutions offering by Optelo, and will enable merchants to process micropayments in an optimal way."


Did you enjoy this article? You may also be interested in reading these ones: