Dubai eGovernment has announced that Etisalat has joined its mPay Portal service, allowing its customers to settle any charges on Etisalat’s widespread services including subscription to the Internet, mobile phone services or TV packages.

This brings the number of entities participating in mPay to five after the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Police, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) and Dubai Cares, a statement from the eGovernment said.

An Etisalat customer will be able to settle the subscription bills for any or all five services provided by Etisalat at his/her own discretion. These include the GSM cell phone bill, broadband Internet bill, E-vision bill, dial-up Internet bill and landline phone bill, by following the same procedures for subscribing to the services of all entities.

After registering via https://mpay.dubai.ae, the customer will receive an email containing the codes to be mentioned in the SMS to complete the payment, along with the mPay password. Registered users have to click on Etisalat from the list of participating entities.

In addition to the settlement of bills, the list of services of the participating entities covers donations to Dubai Cares; Salik and Nol recharge from RTA when users run out of balance; payment of traffic fines from Dubai Police to pay for unexpected fees during driving licence renewal or vehicle registration; and payment of electricity and water bills from Dewa to avoid power cuts.

Customers can inquire about the fees of services of the entities participating in the mPay Portal through an iPhone app that combines all the services in one place for implementation in one step. Work is currently underway to provide these services through other smart devices for more ease and convenience to the users, the statement said.

The charges of Etisalat’s services and other services can be paid in the traditional way, either through an SMS to 4488 with the confirmation codes sent upon registration, or through mPay’s auto-payment feature allowing on-demand or periodic auto-payment request where the user can set a specific date to deduct the amount from his/her banking account. The customer can also benefit from the “multiple accounts” feature to schedule several payments on set dates.

Ahmad Bin Humaidan, director general of Dubai eGovernment, said: “We are pleased at Etisalat joining our mPay portal, which is part of Dubai eGovernment’s initiative to provide round-the-clock government services through innovative channels to the public and the business community in Dubai in line with the directives of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, during the recently-held government summit to provide a single mobile-stop-shop for citizens to conduct their government transactions in one place.”

“According to our statistics, more individual and corporate customers are using Dubai eGovernment’s mPay option to complete their government transactions on one hand and show their increasing confidence in these effective and well-secured channels on the other, especially after the diligent efforts of Dubai eGovernment to increase customers’ satisfaction by upgrading the portal with a larger range of payment options to provide convenience to users,” Bin Humaidan added.

“Reports indicate a remarkable increase of 11 per cent and 39  per cent over 2011 in terms of the amounts collected and number of transactions respectively.”

Bin Humaidan pointed out that Dubai eGovernment is currently working on the expansion of its corporate and individual beneficiary base, either by introducing new government departments and entities or by adding new services of interest to customers.

Abdullah Al Ahmad, senior VP, business solutions, said: “Electronic payment methods are becoming increasingly essential for global commerce since it is easily accessible and saves time and effort.”

“Etisalat’s record of service excellence in handling a subscriber base of over 9 million customers in UAE, and our expertise in eGate transactions that amounted to more than Dh4 billion ($1.08 billion) in 2012, will allow us to contribute significantly to the Dubai eGovernment initiative.”

This eGovernment initiative is another example of the visionary leadership of our country that seeks to retain UAE’s leading position on the global map in all sectors through emphasis on innovative solutions, he said.

“Achieving consumer satisfaction has always been top priority for Etisalat over the years as the company fulfills its national and social role in the development of UAE,” Al Ahmad concluded. – TradeArabia News Service