So, I’ve been at TransferTo for over two years and have been working closely with International Mobile Airtime for prepaid phones. It’s a concept familiar around the world known as buying and reloading airtime, and it’s actually a simple task for all.
You may be familiar with P2P as Person-to-Person transfers or maybe Peer-to-Peer in computer networks. However, the P2P or Phone-to-Phone airtime transfer concept utilised here at TransferTo is a little bit different.
A little help from a friend
We’ve seen that people in emerging markets are not just regularly topping up their own phones. In fact, they’re also topping up their friends and family too - mainly utilising local credit transfer value-added-service enabled by almost all operators worldwide. After seeing the popularity sweep developing nations, TransferTo wanted to take this transaction beyond borders to allow migrants to send gifts back home to their loved ones in the form of airtime credit just like they send locally on the same network.
The airtime gift
Airtime offers a low cost, yet high-value personal gift to anyone. It is the simplest means of sending small amounts - less than US$20 - conveniently at a very low fee. It’s a transfer which makes a significant contribution to the daily life of the receiver – both on a micro and macro scale. It changes the lives of the beneficiary and of the economy of the beneficiaries’ countries.Due to the low-cost nature of the transaction, this is a high recurring action, happening typically three times a month. The sender has full control allowing restriction of the use of the amount so the value is used for a given purpose.
Transferring tech
P2P airtime transfer is quite a big deal for us – we’re pioneers of this transaction. TransferTo implement international mobile airtime transfer through SMS and USSD behind the scenes, running the white-labelled show for mobile operators under their own brand through our easy API integration.
Simple airtime Top-up flow
The best advantage of P2P airtime transfers is that they can be accessed from any mobile phone because no data or internet connection is required. In emerging markets, this adds a major advantage, where data can be pricey and may not extend to all locations. Contrary to other subscription-based value-added services, no registration is required for airtime transfers. Simply providing the recipient’s mobile number would enable the transfer to be delivered immediately even to the most remote locations. It’s really that simple!
