Easypaisa and Omni Shortlisted for GSMA Global Mobile Awards
Omni, a United Bank Limited’s Branchless Banking Services, has won a GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2012 which was held in Barcelona on Tuesday.
UBL Omni has won this award in the category of ‘Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations’.
“There is growing interest in how to direct payment of aid to the needy and this scheme utilising mobile phones is a valuable initiative,” Judges’ commented.
UBL Omni’s Cash Disbursement Service is one of the largest Branchless Banking aid disbursement initiatives to date. UBL Omni provided the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a poverty alleviation inititiave by the Government of Pakistan, and the World Food Programme (WFP) with a transparent and convenient cash disbursement mechanism for victims of the 2009 ‘War Against Terror’ IDPs Crisis and the 2010 Flood Crisis. Beneficiaries were issued unique cards and PINs which were used to withdraw funds from conveniently located UBL Omni retail shops, where agents logged into their mobile based applications to execute quick cash disbursements.
Omni, Launched in April 2010, has established itself as second largest branchless banking services and network after Telenor’s Easypaisa.
However, Telenor Pakistan has failed once again in its second bid to bring a GSMA Global Awards, an Oscar of telecom world.Telenor among Grameenphone Ltd. and Smart Communications Inc. were however considered as selected companies if not declared winner, which is also an honor.
Easypaisa got its nomination shortlisted under the category of Best Mobile Phone Product and Service. It is being contested by five other operators of different countries including:
[list style=”unordered” type=”type1″] Etisalat for Flous – The Etisalat Commerce ProgrammeIsracard LTD powered by MyCheck for Cellpay
Mopet, Oberthur Technologies & MoreMagic Solutions for Mobito, the World’s first
universal Mobile Money service
SK Planet for SmartWallet
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. for Turkcell Wallet
[/list]