News

Mobile recharge offered at Indian ATMs

March 23, 2004

HYDERABAD, India - Cellular service provider IDEA now allows its pre-paid subscribers to recharge their cards at ATMs and through SMS.

According to a report in the Business Standard, subscribers can recharge through SMS  whether they are in India or abroad.

In India, the service is available at ATMs owned by IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank, UTI Bank, State Bank of India and their associates. It will also be available soon at ICICI Bank, Corporation Bank, Development Credit Bank and Bank of Punjab.

To make use of this service, the subscriber simply sends an SMS or enters their mobile phone number at an ATM offering top-up. Euronetis the technology partner for this service and will provide the interface to all of the banks.

IDEA Cellular Limited is a three-way-equal joint venture between Tata, Birla and AT&T. With the recent acquisition of Escotel, IDEA Cellular has enhanced its footprint to cover about 60 percent of India's population.

The company was the first in India to launch Global SMS, which allows users to send and receive SMS from more than 540 networks and 170 countries across technology platforms like GSM, CDMA, TDMA and Satellite Phones.