Post Delivers Payment Option
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday October 28, 1999
Australia Post, which claims to handle 45 per cent of all consumer bill payments, worth $64 million a year, is adding an Internet payment option to its mail and over-the-counter services.
Online bill payment will go on trial in April and is due to go live in the second half of next year.
The underlying technology is being provided by TransPoint, a joint venture between Microsoft and payment clearing house First Data, and will allow subscribers to electronically receive and pay all the bills they would normally pay via Australia Post from a single Web site.
The timing of the roll-out will mean a race between Australia Post and the leading phone and online bill payment service, BPAY, to offer a complete invoicing and payment service online.
BPAY is backed by 13 banks and about 40 building societies and credit unions. While BPAY claims to already handle 1.5 million phone and Internet bill payments a year, 20 per cent of them via the Internet, subscribers can only pay bills online, not receive and view them online.
BPAY's national business manager, Ms Linda Hemstrom, said online invoicing would be tested early next year and rolled out in the second half of the year.
Two other companies also trying to win a slice of the online bill payment market are Hermes Precisa, the company which handles millions of traditional printed bills on behalf of major billers, including Telstra, and Telstra itself, through its Shop.safe online shopping site.
Hermes Precisa announced its E-bill delivery and payment service earlier this year, promising a launch in the second half of this year.
Telstra added the bill.pay service to Shop.safe in the hope of lifting the volume of transactions, but so far only Telstra's phone customers can pay their bills online.
Australia Post group manager, retail, Mr Michael Talbot said Australia Post would differentiate its service on the back of its already prominent brand and reputation.
``We have brand and presence. Australia Post is seen as convenient and trustworthy. We plan to leverage off that," he said.
Australia Post has existing agreements with 370 billing companies and all the major banks.
Mr Talbot said the service was quite different to BPAY in that subscribers could view and pay all of their bills ``all in one place" rather than having to go to several different bank or billing company Web sites.
Conversely, BPAY's strategy is to use the bank's Web sites to link customers to the BPAY facility.
BPAY's Ms Hemstrom said: ``People prefer to pay their bills from their existing online banking site, where they can also look at their bank balance. It means you only have to register once."
Mr Talbot said there would be no charge to consumers where bills were delivered and paid electronically, but a future generation of the service might allow consumers to pay non-electronic bills online rather than through the mail or over the counter and there might be a charge for that.
Australia Post's fee structure is yet to be determined, but will be based partially on the level of interactive marketing companies chose to build around their bills.
Mr Talbot said the move to online payment was not designed to enable Australia Post to cut its branch numbers.
Australian Online billers:
BPAY: Handles 1.5 million bill payments for 1500 billers; 20 per cent paid via the Net; Plans to add electronic bill delivery, during second half, 2000. Australia Post: Handles 50 million mail payments and 170 million branch payments for 370 biller; Launching online bill delivery and payment during second half, 2000. Expects to handle 20 million Internet bill payments by 2003. Other players: Telstra's Shop.Safe and Hermes Precisa's E-bill
© 1999 Sydney Morning Herald
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