MTC-Vodafone, with one million prepaid customers in Kuwait, confirms its position as the leading mobile telecommunications operator in the country. MnTC-Vodafone retains its market position by continuously introducing exciting promotions and innovative new services.
To offer its customers the convenience of 24/7 bill payments, MTC has recently launched a network of about 30 automated machines accepting cash payments using SMARTdeposit from TPS. MTC has termed this service as MobiQuick. It allows MTC to offer a variety of services in addition to cash deposit such as automatic recharge of prepaid connections and prepaid vouchers using recharge code. Within a few weeks after going live, MobiQuick gained the attention of MTC customers.
The Need
With growing market share and customer base, changing IT trends, and to further enrich the customer services portfolio, MTC decided to accept direct payments from customers that are using debit cards.
The Challenge
In the required solution MTC wanted to achieve maximum utilization of existing setup while deploying a cost effective solution for the new requirement. Another complex part was connectivity between MTC and KNET – The shared electronic banking switch in Kuwait, for authorization of debit card payments.
TPS with extensive experience in the e-Payments domain offered to provide a complete solution including debit card acquiring and connectivity with KNET as an extension of the existing MobiQuick setup.
The Solution
The SMART solution eliminated the need for a Financial Host by deploying a financial transaction processing middleware application. MobiQuick is now acquiring debit cards at the MTC terminals, directly routing the transactions to KNET, and then updating the transaction information at the MTC billing host. MobiQuick also complies with the quality and security standards of KNET by deploying added software and hardware security mechanisms.
MTC is also using InSight, for end-to-end network monitoring and management of their SST network.
The Success
MTC is the first non-banking institution in Kuwait that is certified with KNET. Many banks have expressed great interest in this new self-service initiative of MTC and are also in the process of joining hands with MTC to offer their debit card holders the facility of bill payments.
The Future
The successful deployment of this project has led MTC to think of offering newer services. A future prospect of MTC is to offer payments through Credit Cards on MobiQuick – yet another value added service for their customers.
