Mobile World Congress: Borderless Recharge Hub Prepares for Take Off

Telecom Italia Sparkle and Bharti Telesoft announced Wednesday at Mobile World Congress the pending launch of the Borderless Recharge HUB in second quarter 2009.

Hosted by Bharti Telesoft and Telecom Italia Sparkle, the Borderless Recharge Hub is an open platform that supports operators’ third-party electronic recharge and wallet platforms to enable electronic account top-up and airtime transfers for prepaid subscribers traveling outside the home network.

Prepaid accounts for nearly 65 percent, or more than 2 billion, of global subscribers. According to Informa, almost 70 percent of prepaid roamers run out of credit within two to three days of their stay abroad, while the average stay of the tourists in holiday destinations is approximately 10 days.

“We are very excited by the upcoming launch of Borderless Recharge Hub with Telecom Italia Sparkle as we see the opportunity to meet significant untapped demand for roaming services from the growing prepaid subscriber base,” said Mao Mohapatra, CEO of Bharti Telesoft. “We are also very pleased to be providing international airtime transfer services, which will help the large migrant population around the world to support their family members at home with top-ups and transfers. Telecom Italia Sparkle’s operator customers will benefit from the ability to provide these services efficiently and cost-effectively, creating a strong and sustainable new revenue stream.”

Arturo Danesi, senior vice president of marketing at Telecom Italia Sparkle, said his company sees major potential in the roaming recharge and airtime transfer services. “This has been reinforced by our discussions with many leading operators in major markets globally, who are keen to launch services for the prepaid roaming community,” he said.

Telecom Italia Sparkle is a global full service provider, offering voice, mobile services, IP, bandwidth and managed data services for fixed-line and mobile operators, ISPs and multinational corporations. Telecom Italia Sparkle also offers wholesale mobile services.

Bharti Telesoft is a provider of integrated VAS solutions for mobile operators in emerging markets. Bharti Telesoft has deployed solutions for more than 100 mobile operator customers in more than 70 countries.