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Post Office set to roll out e-payment service

Abdullah Mamun
Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) will launch its long-awaited mobile banking service in the next three months.
The service, to be named 'Post e-Pay', will provide a range of financial services, including money transfer, bill payments, cash deposits and withdrawals.
The postal department will charge Tk 3 for each transaction, and there would be no interest accrued on the deposits.
The service was supposed to launch last year but it did not happen due to some bureaucratic formalities.
“ The launch of the service was delayed due to an unseen influence in the Bangladesh Bank,” said Sudhangshu Shekhar Bhadra, additional director general of BPO.
“Some of the officials of the central bank said that only banks are entitled to launch mobile banking. But after series meetings BPO convinced the central bank," he said.
BPO signed an agreement yesterday with fixed phone operator Bangla Phone.
Commlink Infotech Ltd, a sister concern of Bangla Phone, will provide technical support.
The service will be launched in seven divisional headquarters at first, and Bangla Phone will bear all the expense during the period. Consumers can use the service from a very basic phone, said Amjad H Khan, managing director of Bangla Phone.
“The service is, essentially, a payment gateway where mobile phones will be used as wallets,” Khan said.
BPO plans to sign separate agreements with the utility service providers such as REB, DESA, DESCO, for payment of bills through the service.
The post office will take 42 percent and Bangla Phone 58 percent of the profits in the first three years, after which the percentage ratio would be 56:44, said Nayeb Delwar Hussain, BPO's director general.
“In the last financial year [2011-2012] BPO earned Tk 16.68 crore, the institute's highest revenue earnings. It earnedTk 10.30 crore in the previous year [2010-2011].”
“The rapid revenue growth was possible because of the various electronic services, including electronic money transfer service, cash card service, launched,” Hussain said, while adding it has many new offerings in the pipeline.