G-Xchange, LGUs forge partnerships on mobile payment services

GCash, the mobile money service of Globe Telecom Inc. unit G-Xchange Inc., has partnered with the local governments of Quezon City, Valenzuela City and Batangas City to let residents pay for their property tax and business and construction permits through their mobile phones.

 

In an e-mailed statement Monday, Globe said the partnership with select LGUs was done through the United States Agency for International Development's (USAid) Scaling Innovation through Mobile Money (SIMM) project.

 

“Using our mobile payment system, residents of Quezon City, Valenzuela City and Batangas City will no longer have to travel all the way to the city hall and spend hours in line to pay for their real property taxes as well as for their business and construction permits," G-Xchange president Paolo Baltao said.

 

In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Baltao clarified that the consumer payments through GCash service depends on the type of partnership per LGU.

 

"Not all the partnerships with LGUs are the same... Bawat LGU has phasing [in terms of what can be settled through GCash]," he said.

 

Quezon City residents can use GCash to pay for property taxes for now, while those in Batangas City can pay their for business permits.

 

Residents of Valenzuela can settle their property taxes and business and construction permits using GCash. 

 

"This is just Phase One of partnership with LGUs and we plan to expand GCash partnerships to other consumer payments," Baltao said.

 

The Globe official said they are now in talks with other LGUs on GCash partnerships.

 

"We do intend, together with USAID, to expand to other LGUs. This is just the start," Baltao said. – VS, GMA News