Telenor EasyPaisa

Further to my earlier post regarding the growth of financial services by telecom companies, here's another very nice article on Telenor's EasyPaisa. Bangkok Post has published this interview with VP (Roar Bjaerum) and Director (Arif Abdul Qayyam) Financial Services at Telenor.

There are three key strategies where a telecommunications company can engage in providing financial services. First is to provide services to those who do not have access, which is what Telenor is doing in Pakistan with EasyPaisa, and in Bangladesh. Second is to provide better financial services through mobile services, which is happening in developed countries and Dtac's ATM Sim project with Kasikorn Bank. Third is exploring the possibilities of technology for the future through Near Field Communciations (NFC), the Internet and other technologies.

Here's why telco-finance makes sense:

Telenor Pakistan has 23 million mobile users. Compared to traditional banks, Telenor's 150,000 dealers and telephone network coverage have a much broader geographic and demographic footprint. Initially, Telenor is training 6,000 of its best dealers to offer financial services and the plan is to expand this training to around 20,000 to 30,000 dealers. In contrast, Pakistan has just 9,000 bank branches and 3,000 ATMs nationwide.

Read the full article here for further details.