Sicap and Swisscom have today announced the successful launch of an innovative in-store reload kiosk for prepaid subscribers.

The self-service reload kiosk, customised to suit Swisscom’s prepaid offer, enables customers to reload their account within seconds, using cash.

The embedded NFC (near field communication) feature of the kiosk will also allow phone-swipe reloads on devices equipped with an RFID (radio frequency identification) sticker. In this case, the customer does not even need to enter his phone number.

A pilot kiosk was rolled out in October 2010 in the main Swisscom store in the country’s capital, Bern. Customers rapidly adopted the simple menu screen and the easy, no small print and no PIN re-entering process. The kiosk has reduced waiting time in the Swisscom store and enabled staff to dedicate their time to more complex customer needs and enquiries.

The concept and value of the sicap kiosk was rapidly identified by Swisscom and has since been extended to two other major Swiss cities, Zurich and Lausanne.

According to Ms. Alexandra Reich, Head of Own Channels at Swisscom Residential Customers, “Thanks to the sicap reload kiosk our prepaid customers benefit from a very quick and simple reload process. At the same time, the new system has enabled us to reduce the volume of customer operations handled by staff in our Swisscom stores. Based on good customer feedback, we are planning to roll out more sicap in-store reload kiosks”.

Ms. Aleeda Fazal, Solution Manager at sicap, added that “The reload kiosk is part of our sicap Micropayment Processing offer, designed with innovation and added value for operators in mind. For Swisscom, we are proud to associate a rapid return on investment with the potential for evolution of the solution to include more commercial offers and more technology options”.

Sicap is one of the world’s leading providers of customised mobile software solutions in the areas of communications and charging. Everyday sicap’s technology empowers mobile operators to deliver a superior subscriber experience, while maximising new revenue streams and reducing operating costs.
Sicap develops and implements solutions comprising convergent charging and rating, mobile payment, network services, device management, and messaging. These solutions cover mobile, fixed and IMS network environments, and are used by more than 100 customers, serving more than 800 million subscribers in 70 countries worldwide.
For more information, visit www.sicap.com