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The mChek on Airtel mobile payments service today has more than 60,000
transacting customers with an impressive 90% repeat usage pattern, and has
processed more than Rs 100 mn of mobile payments since its launch in September
2007. mChek has also entered into strategic partnerships to enable safe, smart
and simple mobile payments. In Sri Lanka, mChek has tied-up with Dialog Telekom
and NDB Bank enabling secure payments ranging from utility bills/pre-paid
top-ups, over-the-counter and remote commerce, and mobile banking. In an
exclusive tete-a-tete with Dataquest...
What is the status on mobile payments in India?
We have worked to make mobile payments commercially viable in terms of
technology. What earlier was a niche solution is now transforming into a more
mainstream solution and we are making it available across the board to
customers. We have tied up with Airtel to provide mobile payments across the
country. Right now it is only available for post paid customers. It is in its
early days, but we have had some substantial volumes and it is under a
large-scale commercial rollout stage. We have also put in place a mechanism for
failover and redundancies. It is now a large-scale operation and thousands of
transactions are happening everyday. Every post-paid customer of Airtel gets an
SMS before the bill payment date to pay through mChek. Customers can SMS mChek
to 121 and follow the instructions thereafter. It works even if the customer is
on roaming. We are starting to see consumer adoption trends that indicate that
the convenience is something that the consumers are starting to value.
Is there a quality of service that is ensured in mobile payments?
It is a real time transaction and is linked to the billing system. So all
steps have been taken to ensure that the quality of service is there. Even if
there is an upgrade, a mechanism has been put in place wherein customers wont
experience any problems, as failover redundancies have been built into the
system.
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Sanjay Swamy,
CEO, mChek |
What are some of the challenges?
We are more than a bill payment service; rather it is more a mobile payment
service. I believe that any payment you want to make should be made from your
mobile and that is our vision.
It has the potential to transform payments in the country. That is why you
are beginning to see RBI and their technology arm coming together with a
consortium called Mobile Payments Forum of India, and we are the charter members
of that forum. The fundamental belief is that this can transform the way
transactions are done in India. There is a large market and it can make a
substantial impact.
How do you make sure that the transactions are secure?
Any data that is to be secured is to encrypted. The transaction happens over
SMS and it is the sim which is secured and verified by VISA. Banks have shown
due diligence and have approved it. The payment card industry has a data
security standard called Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS).
We have been certified by this consortium. ISO 27001 is another security
certification we have got. We have put all the security mechanism on the
business process front as well as on the technology front.
Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in
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