Cellphone card seller, Cool cards has invested $126 million to set-up point-of-sale terminals throughout Jamaica to sell calling time without the use of a card.
The 8th month investment will place e-business hardware and software across the company’s terminals, creating a network that obviates the need for physical cards. The customer would buy pre-paid calling time and be presented with a slip instead of a card to punch in the access code. The customer’s information would be stored electronically on a Cool Card sever.
The Cool Card investors hope to increase the number of retailers which use the cordless service from 300 locations currently to between “800 to 1,000 terminals by eight-months.” It started operating cordless terminals last November, mainly in Ocho Rios.
“We expect the market to grow phenomenally over the next few years,” said Andrew Grant, managing director of Cool Card. “The continual expansion of the cellphone industry and the advent of liberalization-since this month- means that the phone card market still has tremendous potential for growth.”
The company vendors are assigned point-of-sale terminal where they are given $25,000 worth of talk time- $15,000 Cable & Wireless and $10,000 Digicel Jamaica Ltd.
Given the perceived vulnerability of this technology to fraud and theft, the company says special attention has been given to this aspect of the card.
