Pre-paid is a major method of service delivery to many operators, most notably within the telecom sector. This is really a system, which allows the operator to collect funds from customers prior to their utilisation of the service. It is a model, which allows for accelerated growth and market share acquisition. As the system stabilises, operators must then struggle to reduce operating costs and increase revenues to improve margins. In a very competitive market nearing saturation, market growth is slow, and with operating costs rising, achieving reductions in operating costs is quite a challenge.

Currently, service providers that operate the pre-paid business model have to contend with the costs of producing the top-up cards, managing the top-up cards throughout the distribution chain and managing fund collection and commission settlement. One of the main disadvantages of the model is that the end-user remains anonymous to the service provider who does not have any measure of service utilisation by the customer base since there is no link between the use of one top-up card and another. This model is used by a growing number of service operators internationally, and these include, fixed and mobile phone services, internet, parking and road toll services, pay-per-view TV, etc.

The SecuriLink™ Top-Up Processing solution is designed to assist service providers using the pre-paid business model, to enhance the profitability of their operation whilst concurrently adding value to their customers. The new system integrates seamlessly with the SecuriLink electronic payment processing system thereby providing clients with a very cost effective solution to improving the profitability of their operation by promoting the use of credit/debt cards for top-up services. Very conveniently for the customer, cash payment is also supported by the SecuriLink system via Point Of Sales systems.

The SecuriLink™ Top-Up Processing solution provides easy interface between service provider’s top-up servers and various access channels, including SMS, Internet, GPRS EPOS and a network of selected merchants using the SecuriLink payment gateway. It is a secure system that protects the integrity of the service provider’s top-up service, and does not compromise the existing security of the SecuriLink™ payment gateway at the host bank. The top-up service can be provided through various channels to further enhance the ease and convenience of top-up to the customer. AllSecure International Ltd can thus act as a re-seller and provide an extended virtual and physical distribution chain to promote the top-up service, be it a fixed phone, mobile phone, internet, parking service, etc.

The SecuriLink™ Top-Up Processing solution enables pre-paid service operators to increase dramatically the effectiveness of their distribution chain, whilst at the same time improving the overall convenience of the top-up service to customers. This proposal outlines the manner in which the SecuriLink system allows for such services without getting into the details of the operational aspects of the SecuriLink payment gateway system and related infrastructure.

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