Etisalat and Network International unveil card-swiping device that needs no landline and is completely mobile.
Network International, the region's preferred card solutions provider in keeping with its culture of innovation and continuous improvement exhibited its new offering- MOBILE GPRS POS terminal at Gitex 2005.
The Middle East region is currently witnessing a paradigm shift in payment landscape.
As the industry migrates from magnetic-striped payment technology (cards, terminals, network, etc) to EMV (EuroPay, Mastercard, Visa) technology, banks and financial institutions not only have to justifiy their millions of dollars of investments in upgrading the existing payment infrastructure but also need to keep up with evolving technology to maintain competitive advantage.
"We understand the challenge that banks are currently facing in having to cope with an ever-changing payment landscape" said Abdulla Qassem, Chairman, Network International.
"With the aim of helping our customers and the payment industry overcome such dilemmas, we at Network have invested considerably in reviewing and re-architecturing our payment infrastructure to introduce the Mobile GPRS POS Terminal" GPRS POS Terminal is a totally mobile payment terminal providing online card acceptance payment capability to any merchant on the move.
It is not only faster and more convenient than landline phones but also helps increase revenue by reaching out to new market segments where fixed-line connectivity is limited or not practical such as remote areas, exhibitions/conventions, mobile merchants such as real estate agents, insurance agents, police, etc.
Deployment time too is reduced as there is no waiting time for installation and commissioning of lines as all configurations and preparations can be done before hand. GPRS also has the added advantage of lowering cost as calls are billed on data size rather than connection time.
Ahmed Abdulkarim Julfar, General Manager, eCompany, and General Manager, Etisalat Dubai region, said: "We are pleased to partner with Network International for this new service, which we are confident will see an encouraging uptake from merchants everywhere.
Etisalat's reliable GRPS infrastructure will make this service accessible across the nation, and we could soon see even vendors in remote locations being empowered to accept card transactions.
The options presented include home delivery accepting card payments, card swiping machines being brought to the table at restaurants, and many others."
© 7Days 2005
