Sovi Vidyadharan By

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BSNL customers who pay their telephone bills through popular e-payment gateway ‘Paytm’, beware! The state-run telcom company has said it will no longer accept such payments and that the phones of such customers may also face disconnection for non-payment of dues.

BSNL’s decision to not to accept online payments through ‘Paytm’ has left many customers confused on whether the payments already made would be considered valid. Customers who type ‘online bill payment’ on search engines get ‘Paytm’ as one of the top results and they inadvertently use the gateway to pay the telephone bills.

BSNL Chief General Manger (Kerala) L Anantharam clarified that the telecom company took the decision to ban payments through ‘Paytm’ in the wake of widespread complaints from customers. “We do not have any agreement with Paytm. The amount paid by customers do not get credited to the BSNL account. Unsuspecting customers, who think they have made the payment realise that it hasn’t been successful only when their phones get disconnected after the due date,” Anantharam said.

Asked when the ban on ‘Paytm’ payments would come into effect, Anantharam said that it would apply from February 22.

However, as a “one time goodwill measure”, BSNL will re-connect phones which stand disconnected if payment is made through its authorised counters or its portal www.portal.bsnl.in within the next three days. Customers will have to produce the receipts of payment through Paytm to avail themselves of this facility.

According to BSNL officials, there are also complaints about unsuccessful transactions for BSNL prepaid mobile recharge from third party websites. “We will look into the matter. Customers can avoid such hassles if they log on to www.portal.bsnl.in for all online services such as payment of bills or mobile recharge,” officials said.

Repeated phone calls and an e-mail to Paytm went unanswered.