BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Signaling its intent to expand its activities in the prepaid wireless business, Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) has acquired the assets of Prizm Technology, Inc., its partner in a recent prepaid wireless pilot at 75 supermarkets. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
(See related stories Coinstar to pilot prepaid phone top-ups at coin counting kiosks and Prepaid top-ups added to 69 Coinstar kiosks for pilot)
Coinstar owns and operates 10,000 coin-counting machines in supermarkets throughout the U.S., as well as locations in Canada and the UK.
According to a news release, Prizm's automated transaction processing technology, branded Top-Up services, allows consumers to conduct a range of automated transactions from any Top-Up enabled terminal. Top-Up services automate the purchase of a variety of prepaid products, including prepaid wireless, prepaid phone cards, prepaid Internet, bill payment, prepaid debit card reloads and financial services.
Rich Stillman, chief operating officer of Coinstar, said in the release, "Prizm's technology and distribution model are very complementary with Coinstar's vision to increase our product and service offerings to consumers by providing a range of different self-service devices through a number of distribution channels."
Mike Boyle, president and chief executive officer of Prizm Technology, said, "We believe combining our technologies will enhance the company's ability to enter new markets and deliver efficient and useful services to consumers in a variety of locations."
A number of ATM vendors have shown interest in offering prepaid products as well. Triton is offering prepaid phone top-ups as part of its Waves program, and prepaid long-distance and prepaid wireless are among the products offered as part of NCR's iATMglobal initiative.
(See related stories NCR is apparent winner of race to offer prepaid services, Advanced apps gain momentum at NACS and All about the apps at NACS Show 2002)
