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Alphyra said on Wednesday that its UK subsidiary (Alphyra UK) has introduced the service for one of Britain's leading mobile operators and that this made the company the largest branded payment network in the UK.
According to the company, it currently manages close to 18,000 pre-paid terminals in the UK and now supplies pre-paid top-up services for Vodafone, Orange, BT Cellnet and One2One. Seamus Minogue, the company's regional director for Europe, told ElectricNews.net that this should lead to a "significant increase" in revenues for Alphyra. "Before the end of Q1 many of the mobile operators will stop using scratch cards in certain denominations and will instead offer electronic top-up. This, combined with growing consumer acceptance of electronic top-up, will raise revenues for our business," said Minogue.
He added that the company's purchase of the transaction services division of UK company De La Rue for STG6 million in October 2001 had been vitally important in enhancing its position in the UK market. "It moved us up the value chain because it added 7,000 terminals and gave us direct contracts with the operators," he explained.
Minogue said further consolidation in the UK market was possible, but said the company had no immediate plans for further acquisitions. Alphyra, which has over 6,000 terminals in Ireland enabling Digifone customers to top up their pre-paid mobile phones, also operates in Germany, France and Sweden, and estimates the electronic transaction market to be worth EUR10.7 billion across Europe.
For the six-month period ending October 31, 2001, Alphyra's electronic transaction group lost EUR4.3 million with the UK market reaching breakeven before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Alphyra also facilities the pre-payment of goods and services, particularly utility bills. Minogue said that before the end of Q1 the company will announce a "significant" product enhancement for utilities payments. "We have experienced considerable growth in this area and expect this to continue with the announcement," he remarked.
Alphyra, which was formerly known as ITG, has recently undergone a restructuring. After reporting losses of over EUR4 million for the six-months period ending 31 October, 2001, it sold its voice and data business for EUR12 million to Calyx Computers Limited, a company owned by one of its Alphyra's founders and directors.
The company currently employs over 600 people and can be found on-line at http://www.alphyra.com.
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