Estel launches m-POS platform for Asia, Africa and Latin America

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Having achieved significant success in the fields of prepaid recharge and mobile money in emerging markets, Estel introduced its m-POS (Mobile Point of Sales) platform at Mobile Money Gateway in Dubai for accepting card payments, for Asia, Africa and Latin America markets.

Globally, merchants accept payments via various types of cards (credit/debit/gift/prepaid) using traditional POS terminals, where the card is swiped to trigger a payment transaction with the acquiring bank. These terminals also enable merchants to run end of day batches, to settle the transactions with their banker.

Though, such POS terminals are omnipresent in developed markets, their penetration in these regions is low, due to cost of the terminals and the associated infrastructure required. As a result, card usage has remained low and cash still remains the primary means to pay in these emerging economies!

Estel's m-POS technology converts an Android smart phone into a card accepting POS terminal, by combining it with a smart mobile application & an external card reader which is attached to the phone via its headphone jack. This enables merchants to accept card payments via their Android phone, in the same way as traditional POS terminals do, but at a fraction of their cost, with the added convenience of full mobility!

The Estel m-POS platform is operated by Acquiring Banks, or Payment Service Providers, and integrates with their existing switch; the solution includes:

* An m-POS Merchant Device (consisting of Android phone, Estel smart m-App & approved Card Reader), and,

* Merchant Portal, for registration, management and self care, with access to real time sales & transaction reports.

Estel m-POS platform is fully compliant with industry security guidelines issued by PCI, and it supports both magnetic stripe & chip & PIN cards, with electronic signature capture. The solution is mobile network independent.

Estel MD, Raj Hajela, said: "We are extremely bullish about introducing m-POS into the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America. We believe that our timing of the product launch is right, and we have what it takes to get a sizable share of the market with our strong local partnerships and successful track record built over the last 15 years."