BSNL unveils mobile wallet service in AP, TS

Hyderabad: Public sector telecom operator, BSNL, on Tuesday launched a mobile wallet, BSNL-SBI MobiCash, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Rolled out in association with State Bank of India (SBI), the wallet allows its users to carry out a range of transactions, including ‘cash in and cash out’, a feature that enables users to either deposit in or withdraw cash from the electronic wallet.

“In the first phase of the rollout, the wallet can also be used for recharge or top-up of BSNL prepaid mobile service, payment of BSNL bills including those of postpaid mobile connections, wallet-to-wallet transfer and wallet-to-bank transfer,” L Anantha Ram, Chief General Manager, Telangana Circle, BSNL, told the media here.

In the second phase, BSNL intends to add to the wallet several other features such as utility bill payments, merchant payments and recharge as well as postpaid bills of other telecom operators. “Any customer can just walk into any of the BSNL authorised stores or vendors, deposit cash and get the wallet loaded. He or she can also take out cash.

There are not many wallets that allow cash in and cash out feature,” Hardayal Prasad, Chief General Manager, Local Head Office, SBI, said after the launch. He further said that the wallet would be available on smartphones as well as feature phones. “The advantage of this wallet is that it’s available on smartphones, feature phones, Apple phones and android devices,” he explained.

Replying to a query, the BSNL CGM said that telecom operator would soon cross the milestone of one crore mobile customers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “At present, we have 97 lakh mobile customers in two Telugu states and our target is to add 2 lakh new customers every month. We are hopeful of crossing 1 crore customer base mark soon,” Anantha Ram said.