MOBILE DEVICES POWERFUL OF MAKING PAYMENTS
Beeline has been operating in Kazakhstan for 11 years. Beeline Kazakhstan is recognized as the most respected telco in the country based on the audit report from Reputation Institute. As of late 2016, of the company services are consumed by more than 9 million customers. Operating in a highly competitive environment, Beeline sought to expand the range of services to delight its customers.
Long before the regulating bodies approved the legislation to legitimise mobile operators' provision of payment services, for several years, Wooppay and Beeline were looking for the optimal solution for the mobile commerce market for several years. Not a single bank or fintech in the country could provide a ready m-commerce solution at the time. It was necessary to create a new product from scratch, technically and legally capable of meeting the requirements of the legislation.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
In December 2015, Wooppay had developed a unique and patented solution, presented it to Beeline and pioneered mobile commerce in the country. Wooppay developed user journeys and functionality, integrated the system with the back office ERP of the mobile operator, added more than a hundred merchants to the service.
First, a dedicated online resource for Beeline customers was launched. Then mobile payments became available on the most visited websites of the country. Six months later, the government became interested in mobile commerce. Officials initiated the launch of several social projects: payment via SMS for bus tickets, city parking and top up of transport cards.
The number of users is growing every month and the majority of the growth is through word of mouth. New customers embrace mobile payments because they are convenient: you get to pay on the spot through your phone. Having a smart phone is not necessary- mobile payments are available even on everyone's favourite Nokia 3310.
Wooppay empowered 9 million of Beeline customers to make mobile payments.
In addition to the new channel for serving customers, mobile commerce helped Beeline to get away from premium SMS with high commission, increase competitiveness and gain loyalty from customers.
While earlier customers could only pay for a ring tone or java application via premium SMS, now the assortment has expanded to 500 services. Kazakhstanis pay for utility bills, bus travel, classified ads, cosmetics, movie and concert tickets, online games.
Average balance of the phone is no longer as little as 500 tenge, but closer to 2-5 thousand, because customers know: at any moment the balance can be used as a form of payment.
Topping up a phone is easier than a bank card - terminals that accept payments with no fees are at every step. For those who have never used bank cards and are far from non-cash payments, mobile commerce has become the first easy access to financial services. Subscribers can not only pay from the mobile, but also send money to any bank card, withdraw cash at the branches of Kazpost and Qazkom ATMs without even having a card.
In August 2017, another novelty was presented to the market. Beeline together with Alfa-Bank Kazakhstan launched a unique product - the Beeline card. This is a single account linking the phone number of a Beeline customer and the bank card, which can be topped up together with the mobile airtime credit. The technical implementation of the project was carried out by Wooppay, bringing together the mobile airtime credit, electronic money and card payments.
Wooppay helped Beeline become the first in Kazakhstan and the fifth in the world to launch a full-fledged bank card, connected with the mobile airtime credit. A few years ago this was impossible. Now Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia where mobile commerce with a wide range of products is built around the customers' needs.
