Vodacom, Comparex install first pinless recharge solution for retailers

Vodacom Service Provider Company with its retail partners are the first SA mobile telecommunications service provider and retail channel to adopt leading ICT integrator Comparex Africa`s national pinless prepaid solution, a first in SA. The solution enables mobile prepaid subscribers to recharge their prepaid airtime directly at retail point of sale, without the use of traditional top-up vouchers.

The multimillion-rand project is designed to integrate electronic point of sale systems within retail outlets with telecommunications operators, increasing efficiency, convenience and speed for all while dramatically reducing risk for retailers and telecommunications operators alike.

According to director of IT and billing for Vodacom Service Provider Company, Willie Ellis: "The pinless system enables prepaid users to purchase airtime from retail point of sale without having to buy a voucher. Prepaid customers provide their cellphone number to the retail cashier who, in turn, captures it into the point of sale system along with the value of recharge required by the prepaid customer. The point of sale system then communicates with the Vodacom network through the Comparex Africa switch and the prepaid cellphone is recharged without any further action required by the prepaid customer."

The new system is expected to reduce fraud, cut down on storage costs because retailers no longer have to keep stock and cut out the cost of having to produce paper vouchers. "The old system was a distribution and security headache," said Ellis.

He added that Vodacom Service Provider Company is rolling out the solution in partnership with Comparex Africa using the proven technology of Vodacom`s GPRS network.

According to Hein Pretorius, account manager of the National Prepaid Solution for Comparex Africa, the pinless solution will revolutionise the retail process because it removes the procurement, storage and distribution cycles from the value chain.

It will also realise massive potential cost savings in the areas of administration and stock distribution. Retailers will be provided with a just-in-time solution that removes the necessity for forecasting, purchasing, holding and distributing stock. At the same time the recharge experience for the customer will be faster and more convenient through real-time processing, available 24 hours per day, said Pretorius. Prepaid customers will further be in a position to directly recharge the cellphones of family or friends who do not live in the same geographical area as they do.

There is also a large risk reduction and convenience for the retailer as security and stock theft of paper or electronic vouchers is no longer possible and the retailer has no need to hold stock as the prepaid airtime is delivered to the retailer at the exact moment it is sold to the customer.

Pretorius said the partnership between Comparex Africa and Vodacom Service Provider Company enhances the scope for its national pinless solution and underlines Comparex Africa`s leading capability in the mobile, retail and online transaction processing space. He added that prepaid airtime is a growth market in SA and the rest of the African continent with an estimated 80% of cellphone users on the prepaid system.