Bangladesh: Banglalink Launches Mukto Pay, Open to Any Network and 9,500+ Merchants
Banglalink, the Bangladeshi mobile operator owned by telecoms group VEON, has commercially launched Mukto Pay, its own digital payments app. The service lets people on any mobile network send money, pay bills and top up airtime, and it already accepts online payments at more than 9,500 merchants.
Key facts
- VEON announced the commercial launch of Mukto Pay on 4 November 2026. Banglalink received a Payment Service Provider (PSP) licence from Bangladesh Bank, the central bank, in August 2026.
- The app is open to users of any mobile operator for transfers, utility bills (electricity, gas and water) and mobile recharges. Banglalink customers can also use it on a basic phone, with no internet, by dialling *525#.
- Online payments work at more than 9,500 merchants. A separate merchant app lets businesses register, take payments and track transactions on one dashboard.
- Wallet-to-wallet transfers and bill payments are free for the first three months. Users can add money from a bank account or card.
- Support for Bangla QR, the country’s national interoperable QR code standard, is being prepared but is not live yet.
How Mukto Pay works
Users download the app from Google Play or the Apple App Store and sign up with their national ID card and mobile number. Once registered, they can move money to other wallets, pay household bills and recharge phones on any network. The basic-phone option uses USSD, the short-code menu system (like *525#) that works on simple handsets without a data plan. That matters in a country where many people still rely on feature phones.
A PSP licence in Bangladesh covers payment services such as wallets, transfers and merchant payments. It is not a banking licence, so Mukto Pay does not take deposits or make loans. When it received the licence in August, Banglalink said the service would also cover salary and other bulk disbursements and government payments, as well as e-commerce.
Banglalink says it serves about 40 million people in Bangladesh. That gives Mukto Pay a large base of existing mobile customers it can try to sign up from day one.
Why it matters
Mukto Pay is part of a larger push by VEON in Bangladesh. Under a programme it calls “Invest in Bangladesh NOW”, a proposed public-private partnership with the government that was formally launched in New York in September 2026, VEON has committed an initial US$250 million over the coming years. The programme aims to attract US$1 billion in foreign direct investment into connectivity, digital infrastructure, digital financial services and AI.
Payments are only the first step. In September 2026, VEON and local conglomerate Square Group received Bangladesh Bank’s approval to set up a digital bank. A digital bank could eventually offer the savings accounts and credit that a PSP cannot, using Mukto Pay’s customers as a starting point.
VEON has done this before. Its financial services platforms in Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan had about 59 million active customers in the second quarter of 2026 and brought in US$151 million of digital revenue. Bangladesh is its fourth market for digital financial services. The playbook is familiar across Asia: telecoms groups use their large customer bases to move from selling airtime into payments and, later, banking.
For Bangladesh, a new well-funded player adds competition in mobile money and could push down costs for ordinary users. The planned Bangla QR support is important too. Bangla QR lets one code accept payments from any bank or wallet that joins it, so merchants would not need a separate QR sticker for every app.
What to watch
- Fees after the free period: what Mukto Pay charges once the three-month fee waiver ends will show how hard it plans to compete on price.
- Bangla QR go-live: when the app starts accepting the national QR standard, and how many merchants sign up.
- The digital bank: progress on the VEON–Square Group digital bank, which would let the group add savings and lending to payments.
Related on FinDeskAsia: Bangladesh: Bangla QR opens person-to-person transfers across banks and wallets · Pakistan: HugoBank opens pilot accounts on HugoHub
Sources: VEON press release via StockTitan (November 2026) · The Business Standard (November 2026) · Electronic Payments International (November 2026) · Electronic Payments International (August 2026)
