Long gone are the days when MultiChoice subscribers had to walk into the company’s office or a bank branch to renew their packages. Improvements in technology, digital technologies especially, have seen the pay-TV company move to options that allow customers to pay using their mobile phones and through online platforms.
But while these options are more convenient and save time, there is usually a fee charged for using them. MultiChoice’s new payment option, announced today, is both convenient and free.
MultiChoice subscribers with accounts in Stanbic bank, the largest bank in Uganda, can now pay charges through the bank’s mobile and online platforms at no extra charge. The bank has a mobile app, online banking platform, and also enables mobile banking using a USSD code.
The new payment options work for all MultiChoice subscribers regardless of the package they signed up for. There is also no restriction to the number of accounts a Stanbic customer can pay for, making it possible to pay for others.
MultiChoice said payments on Stanbic’s digital banking platforms will be processed instantly as they communicate directly with their billing system. “This means our clients get instantly reconnected once they have made the mobile or online payment without the need to queue up at our offices or line up at a banking hall,” Charles Hamya, the general manager of MultiChoice Uganda said.
Besides making transactions easier for customers, such innovations are also good for the health of the bank’s bottomline, Patrick Mweheire, the Stanbic chief executive said. Mr Mweheire said the new payment option is part of the bank’s digitisation efforts, calling it a “real business decision.”
Transactions through digital channels remove transaction costs and bring the cost of doing business down, the Stanbic chief executive said. Mr Mweheire said it is seven times more expensive doing business at the branch compared to digital platforms, and that the bank will roll out more such initiatives over the next several months.
