The water and sewer authority for Arba Minch signed an agreement with MOSS powering, which is a developer of M-birr, to collect water utility bills last Tuesday at Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The Authority previously collected the bills through less than ten branches which was inconvenient for the customers and even for the authority, according to Werkeneh Abrham, General Manager.
M-birr allows a person to transact money with their phone and does not require an Internet connection.
“In the region M-birr has been partnering with OMO saving and credit micro finance institution which is mainly operating in the Southern People’s Nation and Nationality region. This makes the platform simpler to use because people are familiar with the service,” he adds.
The platform reduces late payments, collects bills on time with a minimal transaction payment rate. To use the platform, it costs 4.6 birr up to 6000 birr and 52 birr of the maximum for 100,000 transactions.
According to the authority there are more than 13,000 customers in the town but since there are many projects underway that number is expected to increase.
Studies show that banks and microfinance institutions in Ethiopia began providing mobile banking services some years ago which is late compared to other African nations.
The available mobile banking services include balance inquiry, transaction details, payment of utility bills, bank statements, intra-account transfers, and alerts for withdrawal on a customer account.
The government-owned giant bank, CBE, launched mobile banking service in December. As of March 2018, there were 2,745,716 mobile banking subscribers across the country mostly to pay bills.
This service can be used for utility water, electricity, and telecom, traffic fines, including tickets for Ethiopian Airlines and some bus transportation such as Selam Bus, Walia Bus and others.
Following the government direction to create a cashless society, all utility payment transactions began migrating from Le Hulu, to CBE through CBE birr and other payment methods five months ago. M-Birr provides the service through more than 5000 agents across the nation.