Expansion of the BillPay service
Article:
BillPay has added yet another utility company under its operation in Bangladesh. As of end 2009, the electronic bill payment system has all the major utility companies of the country under agreement.
BillPay allows people to pay their electricity bills either from their Grameenphone mobile or at any authorised BillPay centre.
Agreement with all major utility companies
Starting from a modest beginning with only one utility company in December 2006, BillPay has come a long way. As of the end of 2009, BillPay has all the major utility companies of the country under agreement. The two latest utility companies, Chittagong Water and Sewerage Authority (CWASA), joined in the end of 2009. Consumers of these companies can now pay their bills through the BillPay service.
Positive feedback from users
Telenor Group mobile operator Grameenphone launched the service for the first time in 2006 in a cooperation with the utility company Bangladesh Power and Development Board (PDB). The solution is driven by the motivation of Grameenphone and PDB to simplify the bill payment process.
The service is enjoying overwhelming consumer acceptance.
“This has made my life so much easier. Earlier I had to stand in a long queue for hours to pay the bills. Now I don’t need to do that. I can pay my bills any time of the day and anywhere in the country with my mobile phone. I’m very pleased with this service,” says Faiyead Ahmedul Hye, a busy Business Executive in Dhaka.
BillPay expanded to all of Bangladesh
In 2009, BillPay was expanded to all corners of the country to enable the people of Bangladesh to enjoy the service.
“Today, we can proudly say that BillPay is the only service in Bangladesh which allows true ‘Universal Access’, be it a Grameenphone subscriber, a subscriber of another operator, or even a person without a mobile phone. The customer may pay bills through mobile phone shops or directly from their mobile phones,” says Delway Hossain Azad, Deputy Director, Financial Services in Grameenphone.
Fully secured payment service
BillPay is a secure and convenient electronic bill payment service. The service ensures end-to-end transparency and automatic bill payment data posting at the utility company end. The traditional billing systems are manual, increasing the risk of human error, and subscribers often have to take the bill receipt to the respective authorities to correct or expedite the transaction. The BillPay transaction is thereby more transparent than traditional ways of paying bills.