paybox, Celcom Partner for Mobile Payments, Banking in Malaysia

Mobile Banking (m-banking) and mobile Payment (m-payment) solutions in Malaysia are very diverse in nature. Mobile operators trial with diverse solutions, none of them using the phone as an overall means for real-time banking and payment instructions. Only a few banks provide true m-banking solutions that enable customers access to their current e-banking systems using a Java client on their phone. Since many banking customers either do not have a Java capable phone, reluctant to download clients to their phone or not familiar how to use or access the service, the overall customer benefit remains limited.

Celcom wants to offer a simple and standardized platform for m-Banking and m-Payment (known as Celcom Mobile Financial Services). Celcom selected paybox as its solutions partner to set up a holistic mobile Banking and Payment solution that will allow customers to access their accounts at any bank, at a minimal investment by the participating banks.

In the first phase, Celcom will enable mobile access to the Celcom-TuneMoney Prepaid VisaCard. The cardholders will be able to check their balance and transaction history, recharge their prepaid airtime and transfer money to each other. In later phases, Celcom will expand the system to include other partners and provide extended remittance, bill payment and merchant payment services.

"Partnering with Celcom, paybox can accelerate its growth in South East Asia" states Mathew Avadiar, paybox Director, Business Development for Asia. "Celcom has ambitious and innovative plans to offer M-payment and M-commerce products to its customers and paybox has the experience and solution to meet these objectives.

"paybox's proven solutions will enable us to provide cutting edge solutions for customers and financial partners, further cementing our leadership in proving mobile offerings beyond voice. This initiative will take us yet further in our strategy of transforming our offerings from meeting communications needs towards providing lifestyle solutions. We are also very excited that the solution will allow us to work in partnership with financial Institutions in new ways, which were not possible before," says Dato' Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer, Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad.

The paybox solution is provided to Celcom through its partner IdotTV Sdn Bhd. IdotTV is local technology enabler for mobile solutions and value added services which has operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Cambodia. "The partnership with paybox is the next logical step in our product offering and is in line with our vision to be the premier m-commerce enabler in the region" says Firoz Mohd Noor, CEO, IdotTV.