DUBLIN, Ireland, and PORTLAND, Oregon, 24 April, 2007 — alphyra is announcing the launch of phone and SMS-based top-up transaction services for Meteor Mobile Communications, Ltd.'s, Pay As You Go program in Ireland. This is the first virtual top up program launched under alphyra's strategic partnership with Vesta Corporation. Uniquely, this is the only service that provides complete indemnification from fraud for mobile operators across a comprehensive range of channels.
alphyra has utilised new technology from Vesta, allowing customers to top-up anytime, anywhere, via SMS message, IVR, and live agent with a credit or debit card. Meteor is the first operator to offer this proprietary top-up service in Europe and will be offering it to its 819,000 customers.
"This early success represents a strong endorsement of the strength of the product offering and the partnership between alphyra and Vesta. Meteor customers will be the first in Europe to benefit from this solution," said Donal McGuinness of alphyra.
"Our solution provides a winning situation for Meteor and its customers," said Dermot Short, Vesta's Vice President, European Operations. "Customers can now benefit from the convenience of topping-up 24x7 without visiting a point-of-sale location, ATM or completing a lengthy registration process."
Commenting on the launch of the new service, Meteor's Marketing Director Michael Hayes said, "'Meteor Top Up Direct' is a welcome addition to our Pay As You Go services."
"Free and easy to use, Meteor Top Up Direct highlights once again our commitment to providing simple, effective, hassle-free value for money mobile communications for people on the move," he added.
Donal McGuiness of alphyra commented: "Many mobile operators don't offer top-up transaction services to their customers because of fraud concerns, but the alphyra solution is available across all channels and is fully indemnified. We anticipate strong interest from European operators for this service."
Headquartered in Dublin, with operations in 23 countries across Europe, alphyra operates payzone, Europe's largest branded network of 150,000 retail points for the collection of consumer payments. alphyra processes over 400 million transactions per year on behalf of its clients with a value of over �12 billion. For more information visit www.alphyra.com.
With headquarters in Portland, Oregon, USA, and operations in Europe and China, Vesta was inducted into the Inc. Hall of Fame for five consecutive years as an Inc. 500 fastest growing private company. Vesta's clients include AT&T, Cingular Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, T-Mobile, Verizon, IDT, and Sprint.
Established in 2001, Meteor Mobile Communications Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of eircom Group plc. Meteor has enjoyed unprecedented growth and has become Ireland's fastest growing mobile service network, with 819,000 customers and 18% market share. Meteor now has 37 Stores throughout Ireland and over 7,000 top up outlets nationwide. For more information visit www.meteor.ie.
Donal McGuinness
donal.mcguinness@alphyra.ie
+353 1 2076000
Joshua Rush
Director, Marketing
joshua.rush@trustvesta.com
+1 503.790.2500
Amanda Carroll
Media & Public Relations Manage
amanda.carroll@meteor.ie