Upaid, a provider of mobile payment authentication services, has signed an agreement with Visa CEMEA to supply technology for the market pilot of a SMS-based pre-paid top-up service.
Visa cardholders can register for the service at the issuing bank by sending a SMS message, containing an amount and PIN number, to the operator. The cost of the top-up will be debited from their accounts.
Paris-based Upaid says its technology, hosted at a centralised hub, handles the transfer of ISO 8583 authorisation and top-up message requests between the bank and the operator and authenticates the end-user, based on MSISDN and PIN numbers. The vendor adds that the end-to-end facility is one of the first ASP top-up schemes to go live in the market.
Hilary Mitchell, vice president, e-Visa CEMEA, says: "We have put a considerable amount of effort into the selection process and are pleased that we will be able to go live with the service so quickly."
Initially, the pilot will involve just one mobile operator and one bank, which will serve as both acquirer and issuer.
The scheme is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2003 and Upaid says its plans to connect other parties to the ASP are underway.