Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Microfinance Bank yesterday announced the launch of ‘easypaisa’, described as ‘a uniquely convenient and safe way for the people of Pakistan to carry out financial transactions.’ This is the latest chapter in Telenor’s strategy to offer financial services in Pakistan, which began in November 2008 with the purchase of a 51% stake in Tameer Microfinance Bank for USD$12.5 million.

It will be exciting to track the progress of easypaisa in the months to come, but even from day one the service sparks conversation as the model looks more like Grameenphone’s Billpay service available in Bangladesh and less like other mobile money launches that have made headlines in 2009 from the likes of Zain, MTN and Vodafone.

Here are three main ways that Easypaisa differs from others:

1. Primary Focus on Bill Payments

Telenor has focused their consumer messaging on one specific service – bill payments. It’s been publicly acknowledged that money transfer (which was a lead offering from Vodafone, Zain and MTN in their markets) and other services are on the roadmap, but it’s clear that the initial value proposition will seek to address the inconvenience and security issues associated with current options for paying bills. In a country where just 12% of the adult population is formally served with financial services, the potential to add and promote subsequent offerings is immense.

2. Agent Network Designed to Service Customers of Any Mobile Network

Telenor and Tameer Microfinance Bank have created a network of more than 2,000 easypaisa shops at which bill payments can be made. easypaisa is unique in that customers do not need to have a mobile account with Telenor (or even a mobile phone) to pay their bill at an easypaisa shop – they simply present their cash and bill to a representative who completes the payment on a mobile phone (it’s worth noting that the mobile can be used to find out the outstanding account balance of a bill via SMS). The decision to enable anybody to pay their bills at easypaisa shops could stem from the mobile market share structure in Pakistan. Mobile penetration is approximately 56% and the market is fragmented. Three players (Telenor, Ufone, and Warid Telecom) each have roughly 12% market share, while Mobilink (Orascom) has 17%. Thus, restricting access to easypaisa agents would have significantly reduced the addressable market. Additionally, it could be a strategically advantageous to enable customers of all utility companies regardless of network to use easypaisa agents for bill payments as a means to offering them other services at a later stage.

3. Method of Transaction

In the Zap, M-PESA and MTN Mobile Money models, end customers conduct transactions on their own mobile phones and must be comfortable with the idea of storing value on their handset. In the case of easypaisa, it is the agent who actually completes transactions on the mobile phone at this stage. However, in Bangladesh Telenor does enable Grameenphone end customers to make payments from their mobile phones.

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Other ways that this model is unique? Share them below.