Google has announced that it will discontinue the Bebapay Kenya – www.bebapay.co.ke – website from Wednesday April 1 , two weeks after the firm and Equity Bank announced that the BebaPay prepaid cards will no longer be valid.
The development means that the global online search giant will stop maintaining and updating the website, and clients will no longer have access to their online accounts account.
A statement issued by Google’s Ireland representative office states: “We would also like to remind you that the BebaPay website, www.bebapay.co.ke shall be discontinued as of April 1, 2015 and you shall no longer have access to your account online after this date. In case you would like to view your transaction history, please do so before you lose access to your account.”
The notice comes after the firm phased out the BebaPay cards on March 15 with clients with unspent amounts on their cards being told that the funds would be refunded the cash from March 28 via Equity Bank accounts or mobile money.
BebaPay had signed up close to 700,000 users. A statement posted on BebaPay’s website said customers could no longer top up at agent locations while top-ups through mobile money platform would come to an end by end of February 20015. BebaPay had also advised its card holders to exhaust their balances by March 15, after which the payment system would not be in operation.
The Bebabpay card was launched in October 2013 by Equity Bank and Google to introduce a cashless solution – BebaPay Card -for the public service vehicle (PSV) industry, with the card meant to provide users with a “quick and convenient way to pay for bus fare without the use of cash.”
BebaPay was an Equity Bank product powered by Google through its Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which enables commuters to simply tap their BebaPay cards on a card reader to pay, making it easier to transact with operators.
Equity Bank, however, has unveiled new prepaid cards together with MasterCard.The new card has the functionalities of BebaPay as it can be used to pay for bus fare in Kenya in line with the recent government directives on cashless bus fare payment system is more than a travel card. Additionally, it is accepted for transactions and payments globally.
Other cards currently in use in Nairobi are ‘MY1963’developed by Tangaza Pesa and Safaricom and ‘Abiria Card’ which was lauched by KCB.
