Cellulant partners with water utility companies in Zambia to provide digital payment solutions

By Edlyn Cardoza

Cellulant Zambia recently announced a digital payment partnership with 5 leading Zambian water utility companies; Nkana Water, Kafubu Water, Mulonga Water, Chambeshi Water and Western Water. This partnership will allow customers in the province to conveniently pay their water bills with their preferred mobile money and selected bank accounts (Standard Chartered Bank, Zambia National Building Society and Natsave).

In remote areas, customers travel long distances to pay for their water bills. With the partnership, customers can pay for their water bills through Tingg. Since first partnering with Mulonga and Nkana Water 3 years ago, all the water utilities in Northern Zambia have jumped on board and experienced exponential growth in digital payments. Additionally, Tingg by Cellulant processed over K11 million since going live.

Digitising the payment collection process unlocks access to efficient and more affordable water services for thousands of Zambians by creating a virtuous cycle of payment and service improvement. Ultimately, when customers are enabled to pay easily and have a good customer experience, their willingness to pay on time and consistently increases substantially. In turn, the water utility companies experience reduced costs in collections and increased revenue, increasing their ability to upgrade services, invest in innovation and extend their network. 

Speaking at the partnership launch event in Kitwe, the Country Manager for Cellulant Zambia, Gilbert Lungu, said, “Through the years, we have built a payments platform that seeks to solve issues faced by businesses and their consumers. Partnerships such as this are critical in ensuring that we deliver the best possible digital payment service in Zambia. The vertical of water utility companies is particularly critical because of the need to improve the collection efficiency for thousands of Zambians.”

He added, “We believe in technology’s power to unlock opportunities, and that is why we are here today to provide collection efficiency for all the water utilities. Honourable Minister, we know that your Government has spoken of the role technology will play in growing the Zambian economy and Cellulant as a technology player in this space. We are ready to drive this growth.”

Speaking at the same event, Minister of Water Development and Sanitation, Honourable Mike Mposha, commended Cellulant for bridging the digital payment gap and was delighted to note that the water utility companies are migrating to technologies that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness in revenue collection. He said, “I wish to take this opportunity to urge the utility companies to utilise technologies and innovations that will bring about revenue generation efficiency and help improve the financial viability of water utility companies. Revenue collection has been a challenge, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic; therefore, digital services provide a solution for decongesting payment points for water utility companies whilst arresting the spread of Covid-19.” He closed by commending water supply companies to putting their customers’ needs first by ensuring they pay conveniently from mobile money.

Over 300000 water utility customers are set to benefit from the partnership and can now easily pay their water bills on Tingg. Tingg is a payment gateway provided by Cellulant that gives businesses and their end-consumers a single unified payment experience.