JSE-listed Prism Holdings has rolled out 320 secure electronic transaction kiosks in Malaysia in a multimillion-dollar deal that has the added bonus of providing recurring revenue for the company.
The deal gives Prism the added value of not just earning dollars on each sale of a kiosk, but giving it a cut on earnings derived from each transaction conducted on the kiosks.
The kiosks will be positioned around Malaysia in semi-attended locations such as shopping centres and post offices, providing access to payments for Telekom Malaysia (TM) services including Internet, landline and cellular bills.
The Prism kiosks are capable of processing TM bill payments by presenting the barcode supplied on the bills under the integrated bar-code scanner. A user will then be able to pay with either a debit or credit card, and a receipt is then printed.
Prism provides for secure payment acceptance at the kiosk in the form of an Europay, Mastercard and Visa-type approved motorised card reader.
Future applications to be added later this year include vending of prepaid cellular airtime. The kiosks also have the functionality to accept the Malaysian government`s new electronic purse which forms part of the national smart card ID.
Sean Mayos, project manager at Prism Holdings, says the Malaysian government is on a strong drive to have a more technology-dependant society. Having recognised the fact that its natural resources are dwindling fast, Malaysia has looked to technology as a means of keeping its economy bolstered.
Mayos says the cost of one transaction kiosk is around $5 000, about a third of the price of a full multimedia kiosk which caters for high-end transactions.
Prism Holdings has a 30% share in Telekom Applied Business, the software development subsidiary of Malaysia`s telecommunications corporation, Telekom Malaysia and sister company to Telekom Technology which is responsible for the kiosk roll-out.
Mayos says he has a local sales-force hard at work in an effort to bring the kiosks to SA`s shores, but points out that SA is relatively unsophisticated with a large part of the nation remaining unbanked.
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