MPay streamlines its customer services
Advanced MPay Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Advanced Info Service, the country's largest mobile-phone operator, has signed up a disappointingly low 100,000 active users for its wireless payment service since beginning operations last August.
Managing director Komsan Buppanimite said one of the problems the company encountered was customers not knowing where or how to "fill up" their mobiles with cash, because in the past, neither Advanced Info Service outlets nor Telewiz shops could assist that transaction. The company has shortened the process in a bid to attract a higher number of users. "Before when customers walked in, all that staff could do was ask them to add cash value to their MPay account through an automatic teller machine," said Komsan. "We've improved. Now when customers walk in, they walk out with the amount of cash they want in their MPay account." MPay enables bill payments via a user's mobile phone. Subscribers deposit cash in their MPay accounts first, in order for the account to be automatically debited when they make a payment. To add money to their balance, customers can pay in cash or link a transaction to their bank or credit-card accounts. Komsan said it used to take one or two months for a bank to approve the transaction. "When it was like that, customers weren't persuaded to pay by linking the debit transactions to their banks or credit-card accounts," said Komsan. "Now, Bank of Ayudhya and Siam Commercial Bank have completed their support system for subscriptions via telephone banking." Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank and United Overseas Bank (Thai) have agreed to allow MPay customers to link their payments via the debit method through their bank accounts. However, a near-instant subscription transaction has yet to be achieved. Komsan said of the 100,000 customers, 60 per cent used MPay for 1-2-Call top-ups, 15 per cent for GSM Advanced bill payments and the rest for utility payments. Komsan said 40 million to 50 million bill payments were made each month for all business in Thailand. He said his company planned to capture 10 per cent of that total with MPay's wireless service. He expects to attract about 10 per cent of AIS's 1.6 million customers this year and hopes at least half of them will become regular users.
Piyarat Setthasiriphaiboon The Nation
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