Mobile payment remittance

Mobile payment remittance allows customers to transfer funds from their PortaSwitch accounts to the phone accounts of their friends and relatives with another service provider. This service is popular in expat communities, where subscribers top up mobile phone balances of relatives abroad.

A remittance processor (such as TransferTo) is connected to multiple service providers across the globe to enable international top-up services. To use it, you create an account with the processor, provide your company information, and set up a method for transferring funds to the processor. In return, you receive credentials for initiating transactions via the remittance API. Your PortaSwitch system can then connect to the remittance processor’s API server and, upon providing valid authentication information, request top ups for customers of a mobile operator.

1. A customer initiates a mobile remittance transaction via the self-care portal, IVR, or SMS and enters the recipient's phone number.
2. PortaSwitch checks with the remittance processor that the transfer is possible for the recipient's number and retrieves the list of available transferred amounts.
3. The customer selects a transferred amount and confirms the transaction.
4. PortaSwitch debits the corresponding amount from the customer's account and sends a transfer request to the remittance processor.
5. The remittance processor instructs the recipient's mobile carrier to top up the recipient's balance with the selected amount.
6. The service provider periodically settles the total amount owed to the remittance processor. This settlement is handled outside PortaSwitch.

If the remittance processor returns a transaction error, the debited amount is refunded to the customer's account.

International mobile balance transfers usually involve different currencies: a sender’s account in PortaSwitch is debited in one currency, while a recipient’s mobile account may be topped up in another.

As a result, two types of amounts are involved in mobile payment remittance:

• Debited amount – the amount withdrawn from the sender’s balance in PortaSwitch.
• Transferred (target) amount – the amount added to the recipient's mobile balance.

The debited amount should cover the actual cost charged by the remittance processor, including transaction fees and currency conversion, and may include a margin. For example, if transferring 50 AUD costs the provider 36.12 USD after fees and conversion, the service provider debits 36.99 USD which includes a 0.89 USD profit.

Most mobile operators allow top ups only in predefined amounts. Customers should be presented only with these predefined options rather than arbitrary amounts such as 7.27 AUD.

The available transferred amounts also depend on the agreement between the remittance processor and the mobile operator. For example, Airtel (India) allows 299, 579, and 649 rupees, while Jio allows 399, 629, and 1,029 rupees.

Because the transferred amounts are fixed by the operator and the debited amount should cover costs, a simple currency conversion results in non-rounded debited amounts (for example, 36.12 USD). To avoid this, the administrator creates a mapping tariff that defines debited amounts for each allowed transferred amount.

1. Navigate to Financial > E-payments > Payment remittances.
2. Click Add and fill in the following fields:
   • Name – specify the name of the payment remittance system, e.g., Payment_remittance.
   • Payment processor – select TransferTo from the list.
   • Login – specify the login of your remittance processor’s account.
   • Password – specify the password of your remittance processor’s account.
   • Test mode – turn on the toggle to enable test transactions. It is useful during the initial setup phase, when you may want to test the setup without actually transferring funds.

     

3. Navigate to Financial > Currency Management > Currencies panel.
4. Click the needed currency (e.g., USD).
5. To add a remittance system, click Add and define the following:
   • Type – select Remittance system.
   • System name – select TransferTo.
   • Minimum payment – define a minimum amount for the payment.
     Customers can transfer funds only if the remittance system is assigned to their currency.

     

6. Navigate to Service catalog > Rate codes.
7. Click + Add and fill in the following fields:
   TransferTo provides the available transfer amounts for mobile operator services in various countries, listed in the currency of the destination country. Add the corresponding amounts in the following format: CCCNNN, where CCC is the currency code, and NNN is the amount (e.g., IDR50000, INR500, CNY100, etc.).
   • Format – select Custom.
   • Prefix – specify the required amount for transfer, e.g., INR579.
   • Country – leave this field as Not applicable.
   • Subdivision – leave this field as Not applicable.
   • Description – store extra information about the rate code if needed.

     

8. Navigate to Service catalog > Tariffs.
9. Click + Tariff and fill in the following fields:
   Create a separate tariff for each currency to which a remittance system is assigned on the Currencies page. This tariff applies to all customers with the same currency.
   • Name – define the name in the TransferToCCC format (e.g., TransferToUSD) where CCC is the currency to which the payment remittance system is assigned.
   • Currency – select the same currency as used in the tariff name, e.g., USD.
   • Service – select Messaging Service.
   • Format – leave E.164.
   • Applied to – select Customer.
   • Managed by – select Administrator only.
   • Define prices – select per individual rate code.

     

10. Open the newly created tariff, go to Rates, click + Rate, and fill in the following fields:
    • Rate Code – choose the rate code created at step 7 (e.g., INR579).
    • Rating mode – select Flat rate.
    • Unit Price – specify how much you want to charge the sender’s account for this transfer.
      You can only set one fixed price for each currency–amount to transfer pair, even though TransferTo may charge differently for transferring funds to recipients in different countries or to different mobile operators within the same country. For example, TransferTo charges $5.40 to transfer $5.00 to an AT&T recipient in the United States and $6.20 to transfer $5.00 to a BellSouth recipient in Panama. Therefore, it is best to set a price that accommodates the difference in transaction fees for different recipients.

      

The system automatically identifies and applies this tariff by its name when a transfer is initiated. No manual assignment is required.