Customs commission leverages telebirr to settle tax, payments

Ethio Telecom pens agreement with the Ethiopian Customs Commission to enable the Commission’s customers to settle tax and commission payments via telebirr.
The partnership agreement signed on April 20, 2023 is said to allow the Customs Commission to easily settle payments via the telebirr SuperApp or USSD, and will save time and money, and access since it is interoperable with 19 banks. This agreement with the telecommunications firm is said to be the commission’s first digital payment system integration.
“Digitalization of Customs Commission will enable faster customs service, reduce operational cost, and avoid CPO fraud Integration of tax and commission payments with telebirr and it will also improve Ethiopian logistics performance, reduce costs, attract foreign investment, and empower digital economy,” said Debele Kabeta, head of the commission.
As indicated, customers of the commission can, therefore, login to customs trade portal www.customs.erca.gov.et/trade/ fill in the required information to access the service and easily settle the payments via telebirr SuperApp or SMS (*127# ) using the payment order.
“We have integrated telebirr digital payment system with government and non-governmental organizations to modernize their services and make all payments possible in one place. We have also revamped the telebirr App to telebirr SuperApp to meet the growing demands of digital payment and ease day-to-day business activities,” echoed Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio Telecom.
So far Telebirr has gained 31.2 million customers in less than two years and is making life easier by making the daily activities of the society digitally supported. Telebirr has established relationships with more than 102,000 agents, 34,000 merchants, and 19 banks. With its recently launched digital finance loan and savings service, Telebirr has lent 2.24 billion birr to its 1.63 million users, and 2.11 billion birr to its 473 thousand Telebirr Sanduq savings service users.
“We have also integrated telebirr digital payment system with several service rendering government and non-governmental organizations so as to modernize their services and make all payments possible in one stop, thereby getting customers’ service delivery convenient and hustle free. The platform also enables for the pay bulk payments (i.e. salary), traffic penalty payment. It also serves as the payment channel for the national fuel subsidy scheme and other national mega project payments,” the telecommunications head further elaborated on the positive changes brought about by the mobile money platform.