DUBLIN, Ireland, and PORTLAND, Oregon, 22 January, 2007 — alphyra group ltd, which operates Europe's largest independent payment network, has today announced a strategic alliance with Vesta Corporation (Portland, Oregon) to market enhanced top-up services to mobile operators in Europe. This agreement brings together alphyra, Europe's leading provider of mobile phone top-up services through the retail channel, with Vesta Corporation, which holds the leading market share position in the US and China for processing real-time virtual (phone, Web, SMS, and WAP) transactions for products offered by telecom, transportation and financial industries.
Demonstrating alphyra's commitment to the ongoing development and delivery of compelling new services to cellular operators, the relationship is ideally positioned to implement Vesta's proprietary solutions to alphyra's existing customer base of 50 operators across 23 countries. Proven through over 200 million global transactions, Vesta's technology delivers a superior consumer experience and increased profitability for operators.
"alphyra is very enthusiastic about Vesta's innovative virtual payment solutions, and we are delighted to be offering expanded services to our customers," said John Nagle, CEO, alphyra group. "Ease of top-up has been identified as a key opportunity for improving the mobile consumer's experience and Vesta's technology simplifies that process while eliminating the risk of transaction fraud for operators from top-ups made through the virtual channel."
Doug Fieldhouse, President and CEO of Vesta, said, "Without comparison, the alphyra/Vesta collaboration will provide the most consumer-friendly and cost-efficient top-up solution for European mobile operators. Vesta is excited to extend its proven expertise in virtual commerce to alphyra and the European marketplace."
alphyra operates payzone, Europe's largest branded network of 150,000 retail points for the collection of consumer payments. Headquartered in Dublin, with operations in 23 countries across Europe, it processes over 400 million transactions per year on behalf of its clients with a value of over 12 billion Euro. alphyra is the clear market leader in its industry offering a wide range of services including pre-paid mobile top-ups, energy pre-payments, bill & general payments, pre-paid VISA vouchers, local & housing authority payments, pre-paid credit cards, payment vouchers for online use, pre-paid stored value cards including gift card and loyalty, contactless payment solutions, transport ticketing, lottery applications, parking and electronic road tolling, debit & credit card transactions and money transfer. For further, information visit www.alphyra.com.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, with operations in China and Europe, Vesta has been a pioneer and worldwide leader in virtual commerce since 1995. Vesta utilizes proprietary authentication and fraud screening measures in managing its telecommunications and financial services clients' virtual (phone, Web, and SMS) payment programs, and provides a secure, privacy-assured payment alternative to end users. Vesta has been recognized by Inc. magazine as one of America's fastest growing privately owned companies for five years running. Vesta's clients in the US include AT&T, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile USA, MCI, and Sprint. For more information on Vesta Corporation, email info@trustvesta.com.
Donal McGuinness
donal.mcguinness@alphyra.ie
+353 1 2076000
Joshua Rush
Director, Marketing
joshua.rush@trustvesta.com
+1 503.790.2500