Suntel Sri Lanka Partners with Transfer To™ to Implement International Airtime Reload

Suntel Ltd., Sri Lanka's fastest growing telecommunication company, chooses Transfer To™, a leading global mobile airtime network, to offer a cross border recharge service.

Colombo, Singapore (PRWEB) October 19, 2008 -- Suntel Ltd., Sri Lanka's fastest growing telecommunication company, chooses Transfer To™, a leading global mobile airtime network, to offer a cross border recharge service. This solution enables Suntel subscribers to receive airtime credit directly on their prepaid account from their relatives abroad.

Thanks to Transfer To™, users can send small amounts of value within seconds to Sri Lanka. Senders just need to key in the amount and destination number and send it out via SMS. Credit is transmitted in real-time, both sending and receiving parties are immediately notified by text messages.

Around 80% of phone users in Sri Lanka are prepaid subscribers. There are 2.1 million Sri Lankan living overseas, half of them mainly in the Gulf region (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates). Sri Lankan government is predicting over US dollars 3 billion remittances next year. Overseas workers traditionally remit part of their earnings every month directly to the household head in Sri Lanka. However, they lack appropriate solution for sending smaller amounts to the rest of their family on special occasions. Transfer To™ comes as the perfect solution for giving out airtime recharge as a gift for birthdays, festivals, celebrations and so on.

Being an innovative telecommunication operator, Suntel quickly grasped this reality, offering a service truly relevant to its subscribers. "We believe we can bring a whole new experience to our customers, helping them to strengthen their ties with fellow Sri Lankan overseas with absolute convenience," says Dr. Tariq Marikar, Director Product Development and CIO, Suntel. "This new service reflects our dedication to unfold breakthrough solutions benefiting our customers."

Transfer To™ service is distributed through multiple channels such as phone to phone, point of sales and calling cards (IVR). It is deployed at an international level in the Middle-East, Asia, Africa and Europe. "A global network is required to aggregate mobile operators' airtime all over the world. Transfer To™ creates bridges for telecommunication operators from developed and emerging countries, positively affecting their business at a global scale," says Eric Barbier, Managing Director, Transfer To™.

Together with Suntel as a strong prescriber for the solution, Transfer To™ distributors relay detailed marketing information, helping to raise awareness, educate end-users and spread the solution. Recommendation is made possible among foreign communities, from peer to peer or through convenient shops, money transfer operators and proximity centres. This gives Suntel a wide exposure for its international credit transfers.

Transfer To™ will be present at GITEX in Dubai from 19-23 October and will also attend AfricaCom in Cape Town, South Africa from 18-19 November.

About Suntel
Suntel is a joint venture company that brings together the resources and expertise of Swedish telecom giant Overseas Telecom AB, Metrocorp (Pvt) Ltd., Townsend Limited of Hong Kong, the National Development Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - a member of the World Bank Group. The combination of technical and operational expertise evident in Suntel, supported by a sound financial base, has helped create a company, which is committed to being Sri Lanka's preferred telecommunication service provider, through service excellence and cost-effective delivery.

For further information on Suntel, visit http://www.suntel.lk

About Transfer To™
Transfer To™ operates a global airtime network interconnecting the mobile operators' prepaid services. Foreign workers may now recharge the prepaid mobile phone of their relatives back home. Airtime remittance enables migrants to send small value amounts - 200 million migrants remit $300 billion every year. The solution is distributed by mobile operators as an innovative and differentiating service for their ethnic segment - an underserved market with a high telecom usage. Transfer To™ is also available at point of sales: proximity retailers, calling cards distributors, money transfer operators...Prepaid roamers can also use the solution to reload their phone while travelling abroad.

For more information, please visit the following website: www.transfer-to.com

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