Telstra (Australia) in e-Billing Project with Post

Telstra (Australia) in e-Billing Project with Post
September 26, 2001 — Mandy Bryan, Australian Financial Review: “Telstra [Melbourne, Australia] is preparing to boost the electronic delivery of its bills across its retail customer base in a joint project with Australia Post to be rolled out by the end of the year. The new online bill presentment service is part of a belated move to participate in an aggregated POSTbillpay online service launched by Australia Post last year. Australia Post and Telstra said delays in Telstra’s participation had to do with the technical complexity involved in integrating Telstra’s multiple billing platforms. Telstra’s own aspirations in the billion-dollar Australian billing market are also thought to have contributed. Telstra issues about 100 million bills a year, which at the height of the dot com boom represented a potential traffic source for its own internet portal. Telstra customers keen to transact online can already opt to receive their bills via e-mail but have previously had to pay these on Telstra’s website or online through Bpay. The Australia Post partnership extended this to its aggregated POSTbillpay site which already accepts online bill payment on behalf of 121 companies and attracts tens of thousands of internet bill payers, according to its group manager of financial services, Mr Terry Stephens.” Bryan says, “The electronic delivery of bills is considered the next key differentiator in the competitive online billpay market. So far, Australia Post has six billers signed to its bill presentment service, but it plans to have at least 10 major billers, including Telstra, by the end of the year, he said. From there this would spread to smaller companies, following an Australia Post decision to lower its POSTbillpay service cut-off from companies sending 20,000 bills a year to 5,000.” (Source: Australian Financial Review)

——————————————————————————–