Adding minutes on prepaid wireless phones may soon become a little easier and convenient, thanks to a partnership between Boston Communications Group Inc. (BCGI, www.bcgi.net), a provider of prepaid services to U.S. wireless carriers, and iATMglobal (www.iatmglobal.net), a software developer whose solution enables automated teller machines (ATMs) to furnish e-commerce goods and services.
The companies have developed software that will allow prepaid wireless phone users to go to any equipped ATM and pay for additional airtime using their ATM or credit cards, having the payment come directly from an existing account. Until now, subscribers who wanted to add more airtime had to visit the wireless provider's retail store.
Use of ATMs for recharging prepaid accounts is not only a time-saver for wireless phone users, it's a cash-saver for the wireless service providers too.
"When you look at the cost of performing a recharge transaction and the time and errors that could occur, an ATM or self-service kiosk is incredibly efficient," says Tom Erskine, vice president of product development at BCGI. He estimates that about 15 to 30 percent of an account goes to pay for the cost of the existing distribution channel, which includes recharging of accounts by store employees.
The ATM method of recharging prepaid service also changes the paradigm somewhat. Rather than the wireless carriers having to shoulder the recharge cost burden, the subscriber will most likely have to pay a $2 ATM fee for the convenience of using the new system.
BCGI and iATMglobal were conducting field tests of 250 ATMs in the Northeastern United States early this year, and expected to begin customer trials with an as yet unidentified "large wireless carrier" in that market by late February, Erskine says.
The user interface that BCGI has designed is not specific to its first wireless customer, says Erskine. "We're working with a number of different carriers," he adds, noting that subscribers to a variety of different wireless companies will eventually all be able to use the same ATM. The user enters his or her mobile number, and then the software enables the ATM to infer which wireless carrier that customer uses and provides customized advertising on the spot.
BCGI's real-time XML interfaces, working in conjunction with iATMglobal's @Tmlink customization technology, will enable carriers to target messages to their wireless customers. For example, when a wireless subscriber chooses the "prepaid recharge" option at a participating ATM, the combined technologies will identify the subscriber's carrier and deliver carrier-branded content to the ATM screen during the transaction.
Adding these types of commerce functions to the traditional ATM also provides financial incentive for the owner of the teller machine.
"ATM providers are looking at any way they can drive profit from [their machines]," says Erskine. "To drive incremental foot traffic to their box, they do that by driving incremental services to it. It's opening up a whole new line of business for them."
