Europe : With immediate effect , Maestro cardholders and owners of pay-as-you-go mobile phones can now top up their mobiles 24 hours a day at around 2750 ATM locations in Austria. The only requirement is a Maestro card. This service has been jointly developed by Europay Austria, T-Mobile Austria, ONE and tele.ring.

ATMs represent an ideal sales network for Austrian banks and now also for Austria’s mobile communications providers. At the same time, the functionality of the Maestro card is being further expanded. “In Austria there are 6.2 million Maestro cards and many Austrians also own a pay-as-you-go mobile. In contrast to other countries, in Austria we have managed to establish a joint system for cash withdrawals and payments. It is precisely this set-up which makes this promising partnership possible,” says Peter Neubauer, Managing Director of Europay Austria. “Austria’s mobile communications providers have once again demonstrated their innovative approach.“

“Code&Load will allow us to offer our customers the highest possible level of flexibility,” agree mobile communications operators T-Mobile Austria, ONE and tele.ring. “In addition to top-up methods commonly used up till now, such as vouchers, another top-up option is now available to them: one which allows them to top up their mobiles 24 hours a day and over a wide area, at around 2750 cash points. It’s quick, easy and secure. A perfect example of practical efficiency – both for customers and for the mobile communications companies."

Topping up your call credit is incredibly simple. This free service is available to all Maestro cardholders to top up any pay-as-you-go mobile from T-Mobile Austria, ONE or tele.ring. Simply insert your banker’s card into the ATM and select the “Top up pay-as-you-go phone” option. You will then be asked to enter your Maestro code – a secure process. Then simply enter the telephone number of your choice, including the prefix, and select one of 4 top-up amounts:€ 20, €40, € 60 or € 80. Finally, the top-up sum and the phone number are confirmed on the ATM screen. If you make a mistake in entering the details, the procedure can be cancelled at this point. You will receive confirmation of a successful top-up by text message.

In addition to pay-as-you-go customers, this service is aimed at anyone who would like to send call-time to another person. Maestro cardholders can conveniently top up pay-as-you-go mobiles belonging to family and friends at around 2750 ATMs. The procedure is exactly the same as for topping up your own mobile. All that is required is that you own a Maestro card and that you enter the number of the pay-as-you-go customer whose top-up you want to pay for. The recipient will receive a text message to confirm that the credit has successfully been registered on their phone. As the person paying for the credit, you will also receive confirmation of the transaction on your bank statement.

Europay Austria is anticipating such a high degree of popularity for this service amongst Maestro cardholders that the service will be able to reach up to 25 % of pay-as-you-go mobile users. This will result in even wider acceptance of Maestro cards. From mid-June, this service will also be available to Mobilkom Austria customers, effectively covering the whole market.