Banglalink Launches 'Mukto Pay' Digital Payment Platform for Customers of All Operators

Mobile operator Banglalink has launched a digital payment platform called 'Mukto Pay' to make everyday financial transactions easier and faster.

Through the platform, customers can send money, pay bills for various services and recharge mobile numbers of any operator.

The word 'mukto' means free or independent. Banglalink said the platform was launched from that idea, so that customers are freed from the extra time, effort and cost involved in everyday transactions.

The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. Customers of any operator can register with their national identity card and mobile number and use the app. Banglalink customers can also use the service from ordinary mobile phones without an internet connection by dialling *525#.

With Mukto Pay, customers can send money, pay electricity, gas and water bills and recharge numbers of all operators. The app also allows money to be added to the wallet from bank accounts and cards, alongside access to all Banglalink services.

As part of the launch offer, no charge will be taken for wallet-to-wallet money transfers and bill payments for the first three months. Customers will also receive a bonus on their first three recharges to Banglalink numbers.

Banglalink Chief Executive Officer Johan Buse said that through Mukto Pay, Banglalink is connecting with customers' everyday financial transactions beyond connectivity services. He said that whether on a smartphone or an ordinary mobile phone, individuals, merchants and businesses will be able to join the digital economy easily through the service, especially communities and small traders who are still outside digital financial services.

There is a separate merchant app for businesses, through which traders can register, accept payments from customers and view all transaction records from a single dashboard. Work is also under way to add the national QR payment system 'Bangla QR' to Mukto Pay, after which customers will be able to transact with Mukto Pay at Bangla QR-supported merchants.

Banglalink Chief Fintech Officer Dmitri Kashtanov said the company had so far been part of customers' daily lives through connectivity services, and through Mukto Pay it is now connecting with their financial transactions as well, with the aim of making everyday transactions faster, easier and more reliable.

Mukto Pay Chief Executive Officer K M Zakaria said their goal from the start was for the service to be fast, easy and reliable from the very first transaction, and to make sure that customers of all mobile operators can use it.

Banglalink currently has about 40 million customers in Bangladesh. The Mukto Pay launch is linked to the broader plan of Banglalink's parent company VEON to invest in Bangladesh's digital economy; as part of the initiative, VEON has pledged an initial investment of 250 million US dollars in Bangladesh. Across Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, VEON's financial service platforms have 59 million customers.