"It [e-fill] enables our prepaid customers to get their accounts recharged through SMS from their nearest authorised AKTEL outlets without using any scratch cards," AKTEL Managing Director Nasir Bin Baharom told reporters at a press conference in Dhaka.

The electronic refill, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, allows flexible recharges in multiple denominations such as Tk50, Tk100, Tk150, Tk200, Tk250, Tk300 and Tk600, he said.

In the e-fill system, customers will receive a 13-digit PIN (Personal Identification Number) against a desired denomination after one pays the amount of money to the authorised outlets.

The PIN may be received either directly to customers' mobile phones or in writing from the salespersons. The customers can then recharge the prepaid account in the usual manner through the recharge centre.

Officials said e-fill system will work as a back-up of the physical recharge cards, which may sometimes go through phases of scarcity owing to natural disasters or other unforeseen conditions.

Jose Ravee, General Manager sales and marketing of AKTEL also spoke at the conference.