Telcos’ payment service set to spark debate

Mobile network operators have launched a service that would allow subscribers to make payments to secure some government certificates using their mobile balances, a move that may generate a debate about its legality.

In collaboration with the Aspire to Innovate (a2i) initiative of the government, Robi Axiata, Grameenphone and Banglalink will facilitate payments using mobile balances, known as direct operator billing (DOB), against 30 types of services, including nationality and birth registration and marriage certificates.

Grameenphone and Robi, the two largest mobile phone operators in Bangladesh, have already launched the service while Banglalink is scheduled to inaugurate it.

This will allow customers to make payments for services facilitated by government portals Prottoyon & myGov, which have been developed by the a2i.

But according to the Bangladesh Bank, the operators haven't taken any approval from the central bank to roll out the service.

"We are not aware of the service," Mezbaul Haque, a spokesperson of the central bank, told The Daily Star.

"As far as I know, talk times can't be converted into the taka."

Officials of two operators and a2i say mobile network operators are authorised by the telecom regulator, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

"All services have been approved by the BTRC in 2018 through a directive," said Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi.

"We are only providing the DOB facilities and it is mainly a2i's initiative."

In a statement, Grameenphone said: "GP always obeys the rules and regulations of the country and has all the necessary approvals from the authorities to facilitate government services. This is one kind of digital inclusion and will help the unconnected to connect."

Officials of Banglalink did not respond to The Daily Star's request for comments yesterday.

According to a directive of the BTRC, a telecom operator can provide some DOB services, including for the purchase of digital contents, e-ticket and electronically consumable services, and for the payments of utility bills.

The BTRC's directive, which it gave in accordance with a Bangladesh Bank's letter, hasn't authorised telecom operators to provide payments services such as nationality and birth registration and marriage certificates.

"It's not a generic approval of the Bangladesh Bank," said a BB official, wishing anonymity.

"We gave the approval in favour of some services in 2008 when there were no innovative payment services like mobile financial services."

Bangladesh's first MFS operation was launched in 2011 as the government looked to bring the unbanked under the financial system. Today, there are at least 14 operators and they have invested hundreds of crores of taka. About 19.10 crore users were registered in 2022 in a country of 17 crore people.

Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, project director of the a2i, said the service has been launched as per regulations.

The services will enable people who don't have a mobile financial service (MFS) account or bank account to make payments at their convenience, he said.

"Our unified mobile payments system, ekPay, connects all banks and MFS providers to enable P2G (person-to-government) payments for hundreds of public services."

Kabir said despite the meteoric rise in MFS and agent banking in the last decade, 18 per cent of the adult population, especially in rural Bangladesh, is still unbanked.

"In order to promote inclusivity in P2G payments, we are introducing DOB in the government ecosystem in partnership with mobile operators."

AKM Fahim Mashroor, chairman of the standing committee on fintech and digital payments at the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, said any payment for a service should be paid using a bank or MFS regulated by the Bangladesh Bank.

"Otherwise, financial discipline will be compromised because the Bangladesh Bank has no control over mobile phone operators. So, we should consider mobile balances only to be used as talk time."

In India, Pakistan and Myanmar, mobile network operators can provide mobile banking services and mobile balances can be converted into the local currency. But in Bangladesh, mobile operators do not have any transactional authority, according to Abu Saeed Khan, a telecom expert and a senior policy fellow at LIRNEasia, a think-tank based in Colombo.

"Since mobile operators have not been given the transactional platform status, subscribers' balances can't be treated as a negotiable instrument."

The central banker said it would make transactions unregulated. But questions will remain about who will resolve disputes between telecom operators and customers over transactions.

"Only the Bangladesh Bank has such a regulatory authority but operators don't fall under its supervision. We will review the validity of the services and send letters to operators subsequently."

"I couldn't remember whether the operators have discussed with the BTRC about launching the payment service," Shyam Sunder Sikder, chairman of the BTRC, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"I will look into this matter."