Cape Town-based SharedPhone International, a SIM applications development company, has introduced a SIM-card payphone in SA that leverages Motorola's entry-level handsets.
The project, already implemented in various African countries and in India, provides technology that enables street vendors to use a normal mobile handset as a public payphone and prepaid airtime recharge terminal.
SharedPhone International marketing director Warren Steyn says the project, which will officially be launched in January in SA, has already seen 1 000 handsets being distributed in this country.
Steyn says the initiative is aimed at using Motorola's C113 handset models, which will be shipped to SA at the beginning of 2006. Motorola recently unveiled the C113 as a sub-$40 phone aimed at the African region.
The SIM application, Steyn explains, will be rolled out in partnership with cellular manufacturers Motorola and Gemplus, and network operator MTN. He estimates that 200 000 handsets will be sold within the next two years.
He adds that the application is designed for informal business owners, such as taxi operators, hair salons and hawkers, as well as students.
Steyn says SharedPhone operators can set minimum billing tariffs, cut calls when the customer's money has run out and return change to customers whose calls end early.
"The SIM-based payphone allows operators on the streets of Africa and India to manage and grow their payphone businesses at a fraction of the standard price," he says.
"Operators can also monitor daily sales, cash received, balances and locations on multiple phones."
The airtime recharge application that is incorporated onto the same SIM, as an additional product to the payphone application, is known as V-Balance, Steyn notes. It provides advantages for the rurally-located unsophisticated operator, who may not have a bank account, as it allows an operator to transfer funds between phones.
"Considering that 50% of current SharedPhone owners have another business, such as a taxi, hair salon, or spaza shop, this service offering provides extra cash for them," he adds.
Steyn says Nigeria, Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania and India are in the process of rolling out the product.
"Other countries that have shown interest include Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Tunisia, Algeria, Togo, China and Brazil.
"The product is best suited to countries with high unemployment rates and low teledensity. To this end, SharedPhone has established an office in Lagos, Nigeria, and Delhi, India."
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