Easier bill payment in Egypt

FAWRY, Egypt's leading electronic bill payment network

Region: Egypt

Created: Apr 19, 2010, modified: Jan 13, 2012, overall rating: 0.000

FAWRY, Egypt's leading electronic bill payment network, announced last week the addition of 700 bill payment and mobile top-up points at various retail outlets across Cairo and Alexandria, supplementing existing service points at Fawry member banks.

Through the 700 clearly marked retail outlets, consumers can request and pay their bills for any of the supported services. Consumers will no longer need to pay their bills at the support centres of the given service provider. The adoption of Fawry by retailers highlights strong demand for simplified payment solutions in Egypt.

"Fawry represents a dynamic shift from Egypt's current bill presentment and payment model as it is the first true national electronic network that offers Egyptians a simple and secure mean of receiving and paying their bills," said Mohamed Okasha, managing director of Fawry's retail division.

In an attempt to make Fawry more accessible, payment points were chosen in popular pharmacies, supermarkets and convenience stores. Fawry is expected to increase its service to reach over 3,000 outlets by the end of 2010 and 12,000 outlets by 2012.

When Fawry was first launched last December it secured the support of 10 major banks. Today, four of these banks (National Bank of Egypt, Bank of Alexandria, Banque Misr and Banque du Caire) already offer live services on their ATMs while the remaining six will enable the service during 2010.

A major milestone for Fawry has been the activation of its mobile top-up service that gives retailers the ability to offer mobile line recharge facilities for all three operators -- Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat. Furthermore, Fawry has recently added other utility payments for Telecom Egypt, TEData and LinkDSL that will go live this month.

Al Ahram Weekly