Grameenphone has signed a contract with West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd. (WZPDCL) to collect electric bills on March 1, 2016 at Spectra Convention Centre.

Under the contract, Grameenphone is going to offer BillPay services to nearly a million household customers of WZPDCL covering 21 Districts and 20 Upazilas in Khulna and Barisal. This is the largest area to come under the BillPay service coverage after BPDB Chittagong.

The contract was signed by Erwan Jean Alexandre Gelebart, Head of Financial Services of Grameenphone and Abdul Motaleb, Company Secretary of WZPDCL in presence of Engr. Md. Shafique Uddin, Managing Director of WZPDCL, Dilip Pal, Chief Financial Officer and Mahmud Hossain, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Grameenphone.

BillPay is a pioneering Mobile Financial Service (MFS) offered by Grameenphone in Bangladesh. It is the first mobile based electronic bill payment service for utility companies in the country. Currently Grameenphone, through the service, is providing utility bill payment service to the customers of Bangladesh Power Development Board, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Ltd, Bakharabad Gas Distribution Company Limited, Kanraphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd, Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

‘This initiative is one of Grameenphone’s various efforts to add convenience to the daily lives of the Bangladeshi people through innovative as well as reliable service offering. BillPay was introduced to empower especially the unbanked population in Bangladesh by enabling them to pay utility bills with full trust, clarity, and ease. As part of our expansion program of the service, millions of our customers in the western region of the country will be able to enjoy the services,’ said Erwan Jean Alexandre Gelebart, Head of Financial Services of Grameenphone while referring to the contract signing.

As opposed to the time-consuming, cumbersome and hence difficult traditional means of bill collection through banks, BillPay by Grameenphone, introduced in 2006, is a mobile based method of bill collection. This innovative method allows customers to pay their bills at any time of the day or night without standing in line.