National ePayment Gateway ushers Oman's eGovernment forward to transactional phase

The event held at the Afrah ballroom was under the auspices of HE Lt. General Malik Sulaiman Al Ma'amari, Inspector General of Police and Customs in the presence of HE Mohammed Nasser Al Khasibi, Chairman of ITA and other high level dignitaries.

The launch of the ePG ushers the transformation of Oman's eGovernment implementation forward to the transactional phase.

The ePayment Gateway (ePG) provides an operational component of the eGovernance infrastructure and full eCommerce facilities that allow secure online payments (ePayments).

The ePayment Gateway supports multiple acquiring banks and will operate as a critical shared service within the eGovernance architecture along with Oman's forthcoming Government eServices Portal.

With Oman Mobile as the Main Sponsor, the launch event is also supported by Bank Muscat - the Gold Sponsor and Oman Arab Bank the Bronze Sponsor.

The launch of this gateway is part of the continuous efforts taken by the ITA to build the eGovernment infrastructure of the Sultanate.

The state-of-the-art ePayment solution supports the delivery of eServices of the public sector and assists the private sector's moves into eCommerce.

The ePayment Gateway enables efficient electronic transactions in Oman and simplify the processing of payment transactions for electronic services within the country.

Enabling the gateway is expected to increase the adoption of e-Services along with electronic payments, particularly Internet-enabled payments which are easy and efficient.

Highlighting the importance of the payment gateway Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA, said:

'The e-Payment Gateway is a key enabler to the successful delivery of public sector services online and this is now operational for people adopt and benefit. The system which has gone operational five months ago has satisfied rigorous test and proves to be secure and resilient. Today's launch marks another era in the delivery of e-government services for the entire nation."

Since April 2007, ITA has been working on the ePG in close cooperation with MasterCard and BankMuscat to offer eCommerce facilities for merchants.

The main goal of the ePayment Gateway is to provide a mechanism to handle the online payment for goods and services offered by the Government as well as other commercial entities and promote cross-border eCommerce.

Since a soft launch of the ePG mid March this year, Ministry of Sports Affairs, Omanmobile, Nawras and OmanBay are have the current members of the system. Speaking on the operations, Mr. Muhanna Moosa Baqer, Manager - ePayments said, 'In about five months of operations, about 3300 transaction have taken place successfully over the ePayment Gateway and the customers' reaction so far has been very positive without even a single complaint from the members or their customers. The system is ready for use by both members and the public'.

The presence of such a robust and secure ePayment Gateway enables eGovernment shared services to be paid for electronically using major local and international credit & debit cards, and in future, other electronic payment instruments. The gateway currently accepts all international credit cards, debit cards including Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Diner cards.

The ePayment Gateway currently supports the Internet and will support various other electronic channels including the mobile phone, IVR, Call Center, etc in future. This gateway is reliable, secure and future proof with Payment Card Industry Standards. It is a cost effective and complete payment solution for ministries and private sector merchants.

Government entities can get their payment for services settled completely online. They are facilitated with secure payment processing to world-class standards and are also provided with a full audit trail and reconciliation for online transactions. They are well supported with operational and technical support and hence can reduce their administrative costs.

Private sector entities can also join the ePayment Gateway and can increase customer base and market with easy payment options. Public can now pay for services and/or products completely online using any of the major credit/debit cards and the use of gateway is free for buyer. No longer do they need to visit the physical offices or wait in long queues to make payments.

The ePayment Gateway allows merchants based in Oman to sell their products and services on the Internet to customers worldwide and customers in Oman could continue to purchase products and services from any part of the world on the Internet and pay for them online as well.