Bell Mobility, Scotiabank, and Soft Tracks Enterprises Announce New Payment Service for Canadian Wireless Customers.Business Editors & High Tech Writers TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 2002 Innovative m-commerce Solution is the First in Canada to Provide Consumers With the Ability to Purchase Airtime air·time n. 1. The time during which a radio or television station is broadcasting. Also called airspace. 2. The time at which a radio or television program is broadcast. Services Using Their Wireless Handset Bell Mobility, Scotiabank and Soft Tracks Enterprises today announced the commercial availability of an innovative new payment service. The service arrangement, offered by Bell Mobility to its pre-paid wireless customers, gives users the option to purchase airtime services using their wireless phones and pay with a direct bank account transfer. The payment service is facilitated by Scotiabank through the customer's bank of choice. The service is the first in Canada to provide consumers with the ability to purchase airtime services using their wireless handset in a secure payment environment. Pre-paid airtime fees or "top-ups" were previously made by using airtime cards, or credit cards. Now, customers can simply set up this wireless payment option through Bell Mobility's customer service, via www.bell.ca or by dialing the automated customer service line (1-888-537-9999). Once the pre-authorized debit service has been activated, customers simply press #369, enter their PIN, and select the airtime top-up amount. The corresponding airtime will be automatically added to their pre-paid account within 30 minutes and their bank account will be debited accordingly. "The introduction of this payment system will play an important part in delivering future mobile commerce services to Bell Mobility customers," said Michael Neuman, President and COO, Bell Mobility. "Our agreement with Scotiabank and Soft Tracks is the first of its kind in Canada, and provides our pre-paid wireless customers with a flexible choice of how to pay for their airtime." "Scotiabank is once again demonstrating leadership in bringing progressive banking solutions to market," said Albert Wahbe, President of e-Scotia and Executive Vice-President of Scotiabank's Electronic Banking. "We recognized there was a need in the wireless telecommunications industry for reliable and secure transactions from wireless phones to consumer accounts, and through our partnership with Soft Tracks, we were able to meet Bell Mobility's requirements to provide service to their customers." New Payment Service The service will be based on Soft Track's Skypay payment architecture, which has been certified by the Canadian banks & processors to accept Interac debit and credit card transactions originating from wireless networks. Skypay provides fast and reliable payment acceptance capability to Canadian merchants, making it a natural platform for extending payment services to consumer's cell phones. A Bell Mobility and SaskTel joint venture, the Canadian Skypay network is hosted in a highly secure data center in Regina, Saskatchewan. Developed by Soft Tracks, Skypay is hosted on HP's Unix(TM) high-performance server platforms, which are designed to meet the stringent performance and reliability standards of the telecommunications and financial industries. "This new service will bring purchasing convenience to millions of consumers who use wireless phones," said Juliana Cafik, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Soft Tracks. "This agreement with Scotiabank and Bell Mobility is a milestone in establishing the element of trust that will give consumers and merchants confidence in wireless phones for secure purchase of goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. ." About Soft Tracks Soft Tracks Enterprises provides software technology to the wireless communication and electronic payment industries, enabling new forms of payment processing options for merchants and consumers. The technology enforces financial security and offers back-end reporting, independent of communications networks The transmission channels interconnecting all client and server stations as well as all supporting hardware and software. or processing service, using any form of tender, via any communications device Typically refers to a terminal used to send voice, video or text. Mobile phones, wireless PDAs and personal computers equipped with microphones, speakers and cameras are all considered communications devices. See modem. . Soft Tracks technology allows processors to accept wireless transactions with the same level of trust and performance inherent in their proprietary landline products, thereby extending services into new merchant and consumer markets. Website address is: www.softtracks.com and the company is located at #1258 - 13351 Commerce Parkway, Richmond, B.C. V6V 2X7 About Bell Mobility Bell Mobility, a division of Bell Canada Bell Canada Enterprises (TSX: BCE, NYSE: BCE), legally BCE Inc., is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Through its subsidiaries including Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for , provides a complete range of innovative wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. solutions: 1X, PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. and analog, web-browsing and data, two-way messaging, paging and airline passenger communications services. Bell Canada, Canada's national leader for communications in the Internet world, provides connectivity to residential and business customers through wired and wireless voice and data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. , high speed and wireless Internet access See how to access the Internet. , IP-broadband services, e-business solutions, local and long distance phone and directory services. Bell Canada is owned by BCE BCE abbr. 1. Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 2. Bachelor of Civil Engineering BCE Abbreviation for before the Common Era. Inc. of Montreal Of Montreal is an American indie pop band formed in Athens, Georgia, fronted by Kevin Barnes. It was among the second wave of groups to emerge from The Elephant 6 Recording Company. (80%) and by SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas “San Antonio” redirects here. For other uses, see San Antonio (disambiguation). San Antonio is the second most populous city in Texas, the third most populous metropolitan area in Texas, and is the seventh most populous city in the United States. As of the 2006 U.S. (20%). For more information please visit www.bell.ca About Scotiabank Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions, with more than $297 billion in assets in and approximately 51,000 employees worldwide, including affiliates. It is also Canada's most international bank with more than 2,000 branches and offices in more than 50 countries. Scotiabank is on the World Wide Web at www.scotiabank.com About SaskTel SaskTel is the leading full service communications company Communications Company is a communications unit of the United States Marine Corps. They are part of Combat Logistics Regiment 37 , 3rd Marine Logistics Group (3MLG) and III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF). The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. in Saskatchewan, offering complete wireline, wireless, Internet and e-business solutions over a state-of-the-art, digital network. SaskTel maintains investments in companies that provide a variety of products and services. Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com or SaskTel Mobility at www.sasktelmobility.com. |
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