Vodafone Hungary Launches Sicap Kiosks at its Smart Store in Budapest

BERN, Switzerland, January 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Sicap mobile money kiosks  have been deployed in Vodafone Hungary's showcase "Smart Store", the smartphone experience store in "Fashion Street", Budapest. Vodafone pre-paid subscribers can now top up their credit in seconds on the user-friendly touch-screen kiosk, and post-paid subscribers will shortly be able to pay their monthly bill with it.

The self-service kiosk, unveiled at the opening ceremony of Vodafone Hungary's Smart Store, suits the challenger operator's strategy of providing superior customer service and innovating methods of transactions.

The initial prepaid top-up service enables customers to complete their operation within seconds, avoiding the traditional queues at a counter behind customers with more complex and lengthy inquiries.

The kiosk pilot scheme will include testing of customer care services deemed appropriate for the Hungarian market. For example, over the next few months, sicap will allow cash or bank card payments of monthly phone bills. The Hungarian market is one where direct debits are not standard practice, so the facility will ease the burden of queuing for the postpaid half of Vodafone's subscriber base in Hungary.

As part of a forward-looking strategy, sicap will also embed anNFC (near field communication) feature to the kiosk to allow quick authentication of subscribers with NFC devices.

Ms. Aleeda Fazal, Solution Manager at sicap, said that "The potential for evolution of the kiosk offer is very strong. The sicap portfolio contains overlapping solutions which can help Vodafone Hungary foster loyalty, stimulate ARPU and cross-selling, and generally make life simple for subscribers. We are proud to be visible in Vodafone Hungary's SmartStore."

Mr. Richard Sherwood, Director of Consumer Business Unitof Vodafone Hungary added that "the sicap kiosks look good, suit our shopping experience image, andare really appreciated by our public for their ease of use".

About sicap

Sicap is one of the world's leading providers of customised mobile software solutions in the areas of communications and charging. Everyday sicap's technology empowers mobile operators to deliver a superior subscriber experience, while maximising new revenue streams and reducing operating costs.
Sicap develops and implements solutions comprising convergent charging and rating, mobile payment, network services, device management, and messaging. These solutions cover mobile, fixed and IMS network environments, and are used by more than 120 customers, serving more than 835 million subscribers in 75 countries worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.sicap.com

About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 382 million proportionate customers. Vodafone currently has equity interests in over 30 countries across five continents and over 40 partner networks worldwide. Vodafone provides full range of mobile communication services including voice and data communication.

Vodafone Hungary Ltd. launched its service in 30 November 1999 in Hungary and currently has a market share of 22.66% (October 2011). Vodafone Hungary is an integrated technological service provider focusing strongly on offering services for mobile communication, mobile internet and broadband data providing for personal and business subscribers as well.