ABSA Bank and Autopage Cellular today announced a joint venture which will introduce electronic prepaid airtime sales on the approximately 25 000 existing ABSA point-of-sale (POS) credit card terminals.
[VIDEO]The jointly developed system allows existing terminals to act as electronic voucher distribution points following a software upgrade, and will be operational by 15 January.
ABSA estimates the prepaid airtime market to be worth R4 billion per year, and believes it can grow to R14 billion per year within four years, fuelled in part by the introduction of a third cellular network.
[VIDEO]"With this new technology, we are anticipating obtaining 10% of the R4 billion per annum prepaid market within the next 12 months," says Graham Passmoor, chief executive of Autopage Holdings.
[VIDEO]The companies say the system is currently unique, as other electronic voucher systems are housed in single purpose standalone terminals, making it inconvenient to merchants.
"Our competitors cannot offer this kind of service at this point of time," says Eric Tomlinson, ABSA managing executive of FlexiBanking payment and card systems.
[VIDEO]The system can accept payment by credit or debit card, as well as by cheque or cash. It will also allow consumers to specify the value of the airtime required as opposed to the current physical system which allows sales only in fixed denominations.
ABSA believes the daily settlement and audit trail capabilities of the system will make it even more attractive to merchants.
[VIDEO]Autopage is to buy bulk airtime from both MTN and Vodacom in advance and distributors will access this stock directly through the ABSA merchant verification system. The identification number for the airtime is then printed much like a credit card transaction slip, and can immediately be activated by the customer.
The companies admit they will operate on slim margins, but expect the volume of business to make the venture lucrative.
[VIDEO]Tomlinson says the system stands separate from any automatic teller machine (ATM) airtime sales. Nedbank and MTN are currently defending their airtime sales via ATMs in court, after an independent developer claimed their system violates a patent he holds.
Autopage is a member of the Altech group.
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No settlement in MTN, Nedbank patent claim
Video by Vladimir Majkic
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