Comm Express Services, a South African company specialising in the manufacturing and deployment of prepaid airtime dispensing solutions, has successfully entered the international prepaid market with installations of their dispensing solutions in Greece, Israel, Tanzania, Ireland and Brazil.
This has been enabled by the use of Wavecom wireless modules, supplied by Trinity Telecomms, for global GSM/GPRS access.
Rhyan Bridle, Comm Express Services CTO, explains: "The key to our success in the international market is that we have developed a fully automated backend application, and we host the backend and administration function for all our international outlets from centralised servers. This has been made possible by the use of Wavecom wireless GPRS technology which enables us to remotely connect to and manage all of our sites, both locally and internationally.
"Remote management has enabled us to leverage all of our existing local infrastructure and skilled IT staff when entering into foreign markets. This has significantly reduced the cost of entry into each new territory, as our infrastructure, staff and processes already exist."
Comm Express Services, established in 1998, designs and locally manufactures two airtime dispensing terminals - a self-service machine and a cashier operated terminal, suitable for retail stores such as cafes and small supermarkets. The airtime dispensing solutions provide prepaid airtime from MTN, Vodacom, CellC, VirginMobile and Telkom. Comm Express Services currently has over 4000 airtime dispensing machines installed in retail outlets throughout South Africa alone.
Bridle's philosophy has been to keep it simple and focus on good service. The entire administration and help desk function is operated from the Johannesburg-based head office, while the nine branches throughout South Africa manage the sales and service function to retail outlets in each territory. Comm Express employs a total of 160 staff members.
On the technology side, Bridle has once again kept it simple. The backend system has been streamlined to ensure a fully-automated process, from the automatic detection of a payment from a retail customer to the automatic download of airtime via GPRS to the particular retail store. Even the front-end has been streamlined so there are no long menus and no long queues as a result. The system is operated by a few simple 'hot key' presses to ensure a simple, fast user interface.
The use of the Wavecom GSM/GPRS module, apart from enabling global GSM/GPRS communications, has significantly reduced the cost of the operation. Initially, radio pads were used to transmit the data, at a cost on average of R350 per month, per machine. With the use of the GSM/GPRS network, the cost per month per machine has dropped to R20.
"Bridle continues: In 2006, Blue Label Investments purchased 50% of Comm Express, which has enabled us to expand much faster, to the point where we are now the biggest MTN prepaid distributor in South Africa. The next logical step was to look beyond our borders to expand our market further. If you consider that Africa accounts for only 1% of the global GSM airtime market, it made sense for us to look outside the continent for opportunities.
"In some countries, such as Brazil, it was necessary to partner with local companies who knew the market. In Greece, however, we wanted to fully own the operation. Initially, self-service dispensers only were introduced in order to test the market. After observing a good uptake, we started deploying the cashier-operated dispensers in the second phase."
Bridle concludes: "We will continue looking for new territories in the international market, but will also look to grow our local footprint and service centres. We have been working on developing a distinctive brand for our machines, and we have just published our first magazine which will be distributed to the retail outlets to promote the brand and encourage customer loyalty with its fun and trendy content."
For more information contact Trinity Telecomms, +27 (0)11 465 7377, or Comm Express Services, +27 (0)11 288 7140.
| Tel: | +27 11 465 7377 |
| Email: | hello@trintel.co.za |
| www: | www.trinity.co.za |
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