Wataniya charges forward with new services

The service, the first of an upcoming wave of new services designed to make life easier for everyone, allows subscribers to top up their mobile credit balances by simply transferring credits from another mobile.

"W-Charger is about making life easier for people. Now you can charge up your mobile without having to buy a scratch card and simply transfer credits from another mobile. We've already appointed a whole new reseller channel to underpin the service and create a nation-wide force of 'W-Chargers' - people who are actually authorised to sell credits to their friends, family and others." Said Wataniya Telecom GM/ CEO Harri Koponen.

W-Charger works by allowing credits to be transferred from one mobile to another through an SMS-based transaction: people can now obtain new credits wherever they are by transferring them from a colleague or friend which means an end to searching for a new scratch card. However, Wataniya has gone one step further and has appointed a reseller channel of 'super resellers' who buy credits from the company in bulk and can then resell these to companies and even individuals who want to become 'W-Chargers'.

The scheme opens up whole new levels of convenience, allowing retailers and service providers such as cold stores and taxi companies to provide top-up services to customers, as well as supporting 'community chargers', people who can provide top-up services to friends, colleagues and family within their communities. W-Charger also opens the way to topping up mobiles with smaller amounts than are available with scratch cards: these 'micro-transactions' allow greater degrees of convenience and cost control for customers.

"Customers have told us they want easier, more convenient top-ups and so W-Charger is about supporting that need. Together with Wataniya's unrivalled retail distribution channels for scratch cards, W-Charger means a whole new level of convenience," said Timo Everi, Director of Sales and Marketing at Wataniya. "This announcement is the first in a tranche of new initiatives designed to make using a mobile easier, smarter, more affordable and more empowering for everyone. Customers just have to look out for the W-Charger logo wherever they go, or to know someone who is an official 'W-Charger' and then they can top up by as much as they like, whenever they like."

The W-Charger initiative has been tested and is now publicly available, with a number of W-Charger resellers already in action from today. As well as supporting top-ups as a retail transaction, the technology allows mobile to mobile credit transfers, an added level of convenience that allows people to 'borrow' credits from friends in cases where they simply can't top up in any other way.

"We've banished the top up blues. It's as simple as that." Said Everi.