Indebted Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL) on Wednesday entered into a partnership with PayWay, a one of the leading brand vending payments system through which Uganda Telecom Msente customers will be able to deposit and withdraw money from any ofl PayWay machines, agents and dealer outlets countrywide.
“We are excited to partner with PayWay to boost our mobile money distribution footprint. This partnership will enable our customers to enjoy the convenience of being able to transact at numerous points of sale without necessarily having to look for our service centres. In addition to the affordability of our mobile money tariffs, this partnership will further boost our distribution and mobile money transaction points for greater convenience and an improved service experience for our customers,” said Joseph Ndoboli, UTL’s Head of Msente.
He added that in August 2016, UTL launched a new and improved mobile money platform that is multilingual; supporting five languages including English, Luganda, Swahili, Luo and Runyakitara; the first of the kind in East Africa.
“With the increased number of mobile money agents and outlets through such partnerships and many others to come, we encourage current and new mobile money customers to try the new platform that offers quite a range of services at very affordable rates including utility payments,” he added.
PayWay’s Head of Marketing, Lonah Kamugisha, acknowledged that the partnership with UTL is in line with their mission to provide the most affordable, secure, easy to use and convenient means dedicated to solving all payment related needs.
“We have a wide network of retailers countrywide who are strategically located at supermarkets, petrol stations, retail shops, restaurants and hotels. Our network is stable and UTL customers will be able to conveniently deposit and withdraw their money. I call upon all current and potential UTL customers to visit any of our outlets and I guarantee that it will be a smooth and flawless transaction experience,” Kamugisha explained.
It should be noted that Bemanya Twebaze, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau boss was on April28, 2017 appointed as the Official Receiver/ Provisional Administrator of UTL, with his main priority being ‘to protect the company and ensure that it trades as a going concern.”
UTL is indebted to the tune of Shs700bn, while its assets have been dwindling so much that they are currently valued at Shs148bn. The company previously owned by the Government of Uganda and Libya through Ucom has been troubled for a long time. Early this year, Ucom, that owned 69% of UTL jumped ship, leaving the Government of Uganda with the falling company.
