ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 16, 1998 — TransPoint today announced that GTE, BellSouth Corp. and 11 other major companies have chosen to join its Internet bill delivery and payment pilot, which will allow their customers to receive and pay bills securely over the Internet. Other newly signed companies include Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., Chrysler Financial, Eastern Utilities, Edison Enterprises, Mellon Bank, PNC Bank, Southern California Water, Southern Company, TNB Card Services, The Orange County Register and Washington State Department of Information Services. TransPoint now has 37 companies participating in its pilot program.
“Internet bill delivery and payment allows companies to build stronger relationships with their customers through TransPoint e-bills,”
said Ralph Young, executive vice president of TransPoint.
“Companies recognize the cost savings, targeted marketing potential and competitive advantages of TransPoint e-bills and want to move quickly to implement this service.”
The addition of GTE and BellSouth to TransPoint’s pilot program is significant because, according to Banking Administration Institute figures published in a recent Salomon Smith Barney report, the telecommunications industry receives more consumer bill payments than any other industry, with approximately 2.25 billion consumer bill payments received annually. (The Salomon Smith Barney report states that the telecommunications, utility, credit card, insurance and consumer lending industries make up more than half of all consumer bill payments.)
“We look forward to working with TransPoint to use the Internet as a way of improving service to our customers,”
said Wayne Irwin, assistant vice president, national marketing channel strategy for GTE. “Electronic billing will enable us to more effectively reach our customers online and make bill paying easier and less time-intensive.”
“Among the reasons we have confidence in TransPoint is their sincere commitment to growing this industry the right way,”
said Will Knight, manager of electronic marketing at Southern Co.
“It was one of the original developers of the Open Financial Exchange [OFX] standard and to this day works with the Banking Industry Technology Secretariat and OFX to ensure standards of interoperability for this industry. TransPoint has demonstrated a strong commitment to Internet bill delivery and payment.”
About TransPoint
TransPoint is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and First Data Corp., with Citibank as a minority equity investor. The company was formed in June 1997. In early 1999, TransPoint is scheduled to introduce the nation’s first end-to-end system for Internet bill delivery and payment. TransPoint’s service, which will use existing payment systems, will allow consumers to access and pay their bills through the branded home banking services of participating financial institutions and other consumer service providers. TransPoint is based in Englewood, Colo. For more information, visit http://www.transpoint.com/ .
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