By David Mugabe
THE use of technology in settling utility bills is taking root, saving consumers time and money.

The latest application is the partnership between utility operator, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and uganda telecom in which consumers will directly pay for their bills using utl’s M-Sente mobile money platform or instruct their banks to remit money to the NWSC accounts.

The service also offered by MTN mobile money and Airtel’s cash is used for pay TV subscription and shopping in selected in retail stores.

National water chief, Dr. William Muhairwe, said the development will allow the utility firm to concentrate on its core role of providing water.

NWSC is phasing out cash offices, opting for mobile money, mobile banking and over the counter payments with partnering banks.

The strength of electronic payments using the mobile phone not only save time and money but it is also largely safe.

Over 170,000 utl customers are signed onto M-Sente with sh70m transferred monthly.

By the end of October 2010, MTN mobile money had moved over sh1 trillion (about $479m) from the over two million registered mobile money users on its network .

“This new water bill payment platform will allow our customers to pay their bills any time of the day, but also eliminates the risk of carrying lots of money in the pocket,” said Stanley Henning, the utl chief operations officer.

The significance of mobile commerce cuts across all spheres and activities of life, making it the single biggest revolution in the way financial transactions are conducted in the country, according to experts.

Analysts say the growth of MTN mobile money, M-Sente and Airtel cash has eaten into the market share of traditional money transfer services of Western Union and MoneyGram as well as banks.

Experts add that telecom operators must now diversify services by partnering with other merchants like hotels, airline and financial institutions to enhance service delivery.