Michael Belnavis

Michael Belnavis, Ocho Rios businessman and operator of DigiOrder cellular phone business, has teamed up with cellular company Digicel Jamaica and National Commercial Bank to introduce a new form of credit topping up for cellular phone users.

The new service, Teleflex, will enable customers of Digicel cellular service and holders of NCB's proprietary debit card Midas, to add credit to their cell phones from anywhere with just a push of a few buttons.

Belnavis introduced the service four weeks ago.
Though Teleflex is one of seven different ways in which Digicel customers can add credit to their cell phones, Belnavis believes this method should prove to be the most popular.

"It's the first debit card application on the market and anywhere around for that matter," he told the Business Observer. "It allows customers to use their debit cards to purchase goods and services by remote process."

There is currently a system on the market that allows cellular customers to use their credit card accounts to top up their cell phone credit. Generally, whereas credit card transactions could be completed smoothly with just a swipe of the card, a debit card transaction usually requires the entry of a pin number to complete the transaction. With Teleflex, customers enter the pin number via their cell phone.

"This is the product for the populace as a vast majority of persons uses debit cards while only a small percentage uses credit card," Belnavis observed. "It's been growing steadily, every week is better than the previous week."

Credit can be purchased in amounts of $200, $300, $500, $1,000 and $5,000.

Teleflex allows customers to top up their own cell phones or to top up the cell phones of up to five other persons. The only prerequisite is for cell phone users to have an e-financial services account which can be obtained by calling a prescribed toll free number.

M-commerce is yet to take off even in North America and Europe, but it is quite popular in Japan, where it accounts for over US$400 million in revenues each year.

Through prescribed i-mode (internet or information mode) service, customers can doing a wide array of business, from purchasing sodas from vending machines, paying bills at a restaurant or do online shopping.

One year ago there were 42 million i-mode subscribers in Japan and 4 million outside that country.

Belnavis remains optimistic that this new system will be a hit in Jamaica in the very near future.

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