The digital payment service sector in Nepal has got a new player as Nepal Digital Payment Company Limited.
Nepal Digital Payment Company – a Nepal Telecom subsidiary company – has received approval from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to start its service. It is a joint venture of Nepal Telecom and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), which had applied for the mobile money service license to the NRB. It was founded to provide digital payment services to users via mobile money.
Nepal Telecom got approval from the Nepal Telecommunication Authority on 14th Magh, after which the company had been preparing for the procedures and infrastructure to get approval from the NRB. According to the NRB, the company has acquired the license like other mobile wallet companies to give mobile payments service. At the same time, it will link the mobile number from Nepal Telecom to provide the service.
More than 10 mobile wallet platforms are operating in Nepal, but Telecom’s mobile money service is unique. It allows users to use mobile money for the transaction, meaning users do not need a bank or any other account. It will be using Nepal Telecom’s mobile numbers and balance for the digital wallet.
Nepal Digital Payment Company will now operate with different features and services within a month. It has a capital of Rs 1 billion, where 62 percent comes from Telecom and the remaining 38 percent from Rastriya Banijya Bank.
Features
It will have airtime top-up, meaning users can link the mobile balance to their digital wallet account with the same mobile phone number and use it as a digital wallet to store, send, and receive online payment funds.
Meanwhile, a user’s balance for mobile payment will not remain together with the recharge balance as the recharge balance is subjected to service charge and tax. In contrast, the mobile wallet money may not be charged or charged with a minimal amount. Therefore, you will have two balances: the main balance and the mobile wallet balance if you use the service. For this, the company will use the USSD channel in the first phase.
Through USSD (similar to the code as we use to check the balance), you can type the code and use the mobile money service; the user can also take offline services. The service is similar to the SMS service but is a lot safer and secure. At present, you can buy different data packages from your mobile balance.
Next, it will also have a mobile wallet for online users. The users can use different services as a payment gateway, where NRB stays as a settlement bank.
Paying electricity, telephone, water bill, and many other services will be included in the system. It is the first time that the telecommunication service provider to enter the digital payment service.
Verdict
Since the mobile money will be different from the existing digital payment service, it will be easy for the users as well. It is also reliable as the NRB will keep an eye on it. The new payment service may bring a revolution in Nepal’s digital payment system, with many people adopting the service. NTC has nearly 20 million users. Meanwhile, Ncell is also preparing for a similar service and has got approval from NTA.
