NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Saturday, June 25, 2005

For years credit cards have failed to penetrate developing nations the way they have impacted the rest of the world. This is down to the fact that many merchants and traders in these countries do not accept card payments, only cash or cheques. Conventional card payment processing terminals are expensive and most African merchants simply cannot afford them. However, with the rapid growth of wireless technologies new options to bring electronic transaction authorisation to non-traditional locations worldwide are being created. Convenient mobile payments and transactions are allowing merchants to process card payments anytime, anywhere and more importantly, cheaply. Soon cards could be accepted in open-air markets and even in taxis, writes Mapara Syed.

WAY Systems Inc is a provider of cost-effective innovative mobile payment transaction solutions that transform low-cost GSM mobile phones into secure wireless point of sale (POS) terminals using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. ?Using GPRS, an electronic payment hits an IP network, which encrypts the transaction and then routes it to the bank host for processing,? explained General Manager of WAY Systems International Markets, Terry Hsiao. WAY Systems? latest product is the Mobile Transaction terminal (MTT), which is a mobile phone designed for merchants with a secure integrated adaptor that accepts both magnetic stripe and smart cards. The secure, encrypted, end-to-end mobile platform consists of a wireless gateway server that authenticates connections, establishes an encrypted wireless communication channel and provides a remote terminal management application. There is also a payment processing gateway server that integrates with existing payment processing systems.
Story found here.