Proposal for the Supply and Integration of

Prepaid Advance Credit System

Wifi Airtime Credit

Presented By
WiFi Networks (P) Ltd
India

2012

Though every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this document, WiFi
Networks (P) Ltd. cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or for
any loss occasioned to any person, whether legal or natural, from acting, or
refraining from action, as a result of the information contained herein. Information
in this document is subject to change at any time without obligation to notify any
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The document is subject to revision without further notice.
All brand names and product names mentioned in this document are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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Table of Contents
1

Executive Summary ........................................................................................ 3

Features .......................................................................................................... 4
2.1

REGISTRATION ................................................................................................................... 4

2.2

ELIGIBILITY........................................................................................................................ 5

2.3

CREDIT LIMIT ..................................................................................................................... 6

2.4

AIRTIME CREDIT VALUE OPTIONS .................................................................................... 6

2.5

SERVICE FEE for Airtime Credit .......................................................................................... 6

2.6

RECOVERY OF CREDIT ....................................................................................................... 6

User experience .............................................................................................. 8

Transaction communication: .......................................................................... 9

Accounting .................................................................................................... 10
5.1

V Top-Up Account .............................................................................................................. 10

5.2

Revenue Accounting .......................................................................................................... 10

5.2.1

Revenue Recognition ...................................................................................................... 10

5.2.2

Bad Debts........................................................................................................................ 10

5.2.3

Outstanding Credit .......................................................................................................... 10

Reports .......................................................................................................... 11

PROMOTION ................................................................................................. 11

Technical Architecture.................................................................................. 12
8.1
8.1.1
8.1.2

Technical Diagram .............................................................................................................. 12

Network Diagram............................................................................................................. 12
Functional Diagram ......................................................................................................... 12

8.2

Application Processing Module ........................................................................................... 13

8.3

Core Module ....................................................................................................................... 13

Credit Policy (CP) ......................................................................................................................... 13

Subscriber Account (SA) .............................................................................................................. 13
8.4

Notification Module: ........................................................................................................... 13

8.5

Reporting Server (RS) ......................................................................................................... 13

8.6

Customer Care Interface (CC) ............................................................................................. 13

Technical requirement for connecting .......................................................... 14

10

Hardware & Software.................................................................................. 14

11

Pricing ........................................................................................................ 15

12

Payment Terms & Conditions ...................................................................... 15

1 Executive Summary

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Wifi Airtime Credit is a service providing an airtime advances/credits to be used

by subscribers of telecom operators for voice and additional services available in the
network; The repayment of the advance airtime is at time of balance top-up/
recharging by the subscribers.
Wifi Airtime Credit service allows the large number of subscribers of a
communication network to obtain an airtime advance/credit by sending a
conditional request via mobile phone, for obtaining of such advance/credit and being
informed on results of such request via corresponding transmission channels such as
SMS/USSD.
Operators by extending Air-time credit to the deserving subscribers will not only
make additional revenue but will also create a string brand affinity. Operators will
come across as a caring and supporting brand. This is also a key differentiator in a
price driven competitive market.
There are many occasions when subscribers want to make a call or are in the middle
of a call but run out of balance and dont have a way of recharging. Due to this
operator looses the opportunity to make additional revenue. Some of occasions
when subscribers are stuck with no balance and no way of recharging

In between important conversation.

Stuck in a car in a traffic jam.

Driving upcountry, finding shops are not easy.

Early morning or late night when shops are closed.

Subscriber cannot leave office / home to recharge

Airtime Credit allows the large number of subscribers to obtain an airtime

advance/credit by sending a request via mobile phone, for obtaining of such
advance/credit.

Simple USSD menu allows the subscriber to access the Airtime Credit.

Eligible subscriber, as defined by the operator will only get the option of
getting the credit.

The subscriber will be able to take credit as per his limit defined by the
operator. Limits can be set for each subscriber.

Operators can track on-line Credit given out, debt recovered and outstanding debt
along with many other reports on subscribers. Also operators have access to all the
transaction logs for revenue assurance and monitoring.

2 Features
2.1

REGISTRATION

There is no registration for this service. Use of service is only by customer

request at the moment. Qualified customers are notified of this service by:
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o SMS Broadcast: The qualified customer gets a promo SMS notifying

them of Advance credit service and how to use it.
o EoC Notification: Qualified customer receives an End of Call
notification for Advance credit service every time their balance goes
below a certain agreed threshold.
2.2

ELIGIBILITY

Basic Eligibility:
This is the eligibility of the subscriber to apply for credit this is based on his
active status, age on network & minimum ARPU. Operator can define the
minimum threshold criteria for eligibility/ minimum age and ARPU/average
recharge. Operators can choose any other criteria to establish credit
worthiness.
This is to ensure that Operator doesnt take risk with the new subscribers who
have not established continuity and loyalty on network.
The list of eligible subscriber qualifying the basic criteria has to be pre-defined
by the Operator. The list can be revised every month.
Past Repayment Record:
For subscribers who have taken Credit in the past but have not repaid the
amount and have still outstanding left. Unless a subscriber has not repaid the
amount in full, he will not be eligible for another credit.
This criterion would be dynamically checked with the record of the
outstanding and past credit requests. The record will be maintained for each
subscriber in the Application Database server.
Maximum Balance:
The subscriber should be below a predefined maximum balance in their main
account to be eligible to take credit. In case subscriber already has adequate
balance, Operator can choose not to give further credit to the subscriber.
This criterion would be dynamically checked at the time subscriber makes a
request for the credit.

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2.3

CREDIT LIMIT

Operator can have multiple levels of credit limits based on the profile/segment
of the subscriber. Credit limit for each subscriber is decided based on his past
average usage of 3 or 6 months.

2.4

Segment the eligible subscriber in the usage bands/profiles

For each usage profile pre-decide the highest credit limit

Subscribers in that usage band will only see option of credit up-to the
highest limit of their limit.

AIRTIME CREDIT VALUE OPTIONS

Subscriber can choose Airtime Credit value from a USSD menu.

2.5

Denominations of Airtime Credit are pre-fixed. Generally the options

are the smallest 3-4 recharge voucher denominations, and can be
defined by the operator.

Based on the Credit limit of the subscriber he would see only those
options when he accesses the service through USSD menu.

SERVICE FEE for Airtime Credit

Operators can choose to give this service free of charge to subscribers or

charge a service fee for extending the credit to the customer.

2.6

Service fee can be charged differently for each denomination.

Airtime credit given is after deducting the service fee.

5-10% service fee covers for the bad debts and cost of giving the service
to the customer.

For e.g. a customer requesting for 1USD credit with a service fee of
10%, will get 90cents as credit.

RECOVERY OF CREDIT

Credit extended to subscriber is recovered immediately after the subscriber

has recharged.

Recharge system is linked directly on-line with the Talk-time credit

server. Every recharge data/log to be shared with ACS system on-line.

Within 2-5 minutes of recharging, credit amount is recovered from the

subscriber.

In case subscriber has balance less than the credit given, then the
recovery is done in parts, till the full amount is recovered.

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Subscriber will be notified through SMS of the recovered amount and

his outstanding due.

Subscriber cannot take another credit, till he has cleared his old dues.

System will also try to recover the outstanding by directly querying the
customer balance. This is done to improve the debt collection.

The system also queries the customers account once a day for
outstanding amount to be able to recover the loan.
This is done as a back up to cover up for any miss outs during the first
attempt to recover the amount after his recharge.
This activity will be done during the morning hours of 2-6am.

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3 User experience
The subscriber places a USSD request for the Airtime credit service directly by
dialing a code assigned to this service. The money will be recovered the next time one
tops ups.

Airtime Credit
Advance

Debt Collection

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4 Transaction communication:
Msg1: When a potential subscriber applies for the service through a USSD
string, the platform able to notify the subscriber indicating whether or not the
subscriber is eligible to use the service.

If the subscriber is eligible for Airtime Credit display USSD menu

with various Credit options to the subscriber.
If the subscriber is not eligible for the Airtime Credit then gets a default
message of non-eligibility along with the reason for non-eligibility.

Msg2: Details of the Requests, fee charged and actual talk-time credit is
displayed for confirmation.
Msg3: Confirmation of successful credit update to the subscriber account.
Msg4-Msg7: SMS Communication to the subscriber, in case subscriber is not
eligible for the service. E.g. of SMS messages

Msg4: The service is only for the Prepaid Subscriber.

Msg5: The service is available for Prepaid subscribers greater than X
months on network.
Msg6: You have a current outstanding. To obtain new loan, you need to
clear the old outstanding.
Msg7: You already have adequate balance in your account. You can avail
the credit in case of low balance.

Repayment deductions from the subscribers airtime account must be

communicated to the subscriber:
Msg8: In case partial recovery, subscriber is informed of the recovery and the
outstanding amount.
Msg9: In case of complete deduction, subscriber is informed of recovery.

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5 Accounting
5.1

V Top-Up Account

Operator to maintain a Virtual Top-Up account in relation to the

provision of the Airtime Credit Service (ACS).
Operator will credit & manage the V Top-Up Account based on pre-defined
logic.
o Initially Operator will credit Value X into the Account. Value X is
determined by the Active base and expected penetration of the
services. This is called Maximum Credit Limit (MCL).
o Every day Amount equal to Debt recovered is automatically
replenished back into the Virtual account. This would be done at
the end of the day. This would be done automatically by the
application. Log of this entry will be recorded separately.
o Operator to track uptake of the Account Credit, based on the
uptake of the service. Operator to increase the Maximum Credit
Limit of the Virtual account by adding one-off amounts/credits
into the Virtual account.
5.2

Revenue Accounting

5.2.1

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is recognized equal to the amount collected or as per the Operators

accounting policy. All reports are provided to track daily collection/ recovery of the
credit given.
5.2.2

Bad Debts

Operator can define its own definition of Bas debts in line with the accounting policy
followed by the operator. Generally operators define Bad debts as follows:

A bad debt is unpaid loan 30 or 60 days after receiving the loan

Bad debts will be accumulated through the month and calculated at month
end that is anyone with unpaid loan beyond 30 or 60 days 31-60 days is
considered a bad debt at the month end.

Ageing of the bad debt report will be provide every day / month end.

5.2.3

Outstanding Credit

Reports will be provided with daily ageing of the outstanding credit with the
subscribers. Outstanding credit amount after accounting for Bad Debts is
considered as Recoverable.

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2012

6 Reports
Various reports for Credit, Recovery and Subscribers opting in for the
service are generated for marketing, finance & customer care.

Daily Credit report

o Count of subs taking credit
o Value of credit taken for each denomination
o Total credit taken in value

Daily recovery report

o Count of subs from whom credit recovered
o Total value of recovery
o Overall Outstanding amount

Subscriber wise credit & recovery report

7 PROMOTION
Apart from Mass communication in Radio/ TV/ Web, various alternate
methods can be used to communicate the offer based on the customer
balance. Options depend upon the connectivity given with the IN/billing
system/MSC call logs

SMS broadcast to all the eligible subscribers.

Periodic reminders to non-users of the service.

Low balance End of call notification: after the balance is lower

than the threshold limit, remind the customers of taking credit.

Message/reminder to subscribers after call disconnect / call no

attempt due to low balance. (If operator can provide on line logs
of call disconnects due to low balance).

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2012

8 Technical Architecture
8.1

Technical Diagram

8.1.1

Network Diagram

8.1.2

Functional Diagram

Details of Various nodes of Wifi Airtime Credit System

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8.2

Application Processing Module

This is the core application responsible for & connecting to

USSD Gateway (for taking the request)
CP (for checking the eligibility)
Recharge Data Collector (for tracking recharges and balance),
IN (for updating and deducting balance),
SA (for tracking credit, debit and outstanding records of subscribers).
RS (for recording & logging all transactions)
NM (for SMS notification)
CC (Interface for customer care to track logs of any customer)
8.3

Core Module

Credit Policy (CP)

This module will take the request from request process module and will check the
subscriber profile, eligibility with ARPU and past credit history and validate the
request. Credit Policy Service is responsible for deciding which subscribers qualify
for advance credit and how much they qualify for.
Subscriber Account (SA)

This is repository of all the subscriber information. It maintains the list of the eligible
subscriber, history of airtime credit, eligibility of credit limit, current outstanding
and all the transaction logs for each subscriber.
8.4 Notification Module:
This module will send message to subscriber. The message will send through either
inbuilt SMSC or existing SMSC.
8.5 Reporting Server (RS)
Graphical User Interface that gives in-depth view into the internal working of
lending, recovering, MTOP transactions, financial reconciliation and other types of
reports.
8.6 Customer Care Interface (CC)
Customer care GUI that allows Operator to provide ACS service subscribers with 1st
level customer care service. It will provide all the necessary information on eligibility,
customer request logs, outstanding credit and other details.

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2012

9 Technical requirement for connecting

For Wifi to connect its systems/server on Operators network, the same must
absolutely fit the following technical requirements:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Wifi will provide its own server/s

Connect with Operators USSD platform.
Connect with Operators Air-Time System platform.
Connect with Operators IN/Mediation for updating/deducting balance.
Connect to Operators SMS-C node. Wifi System also has an inbuilt SMSC.
Operator to provide configuration and set-up sign-off

10 Hardware & Software

No of Server required:
System Manufacturer:
System Product Name:
Form Factor:
Processor Version:
I/O Slots:
Hard Drives:
Ethernet:
Drive bays:
OS:
Database System:

1+1 (redundancy)
Dell Inc.
PowerEdge R610
1U rack
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5504 @ 2.00GHz ( 8 Cores )
2 PCIe x8 G2 + 2 PCIe x4 G2
3.5 SATA (7.2K): 250GB x 2 (support for 6 drives )
4 x 1 Gigabit ports
Slim optical drive bay with choice of DVD-ROM
RHEL 5.0
MySql

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11 Pricing

Upfront Cost of Hardware as per BOM

Installation & Implementation Charges
Application cost
Operation and Maintenance: has 2 pricing options
o Option 1: Monthly AMC
o Option 2: 10% Share of Extended Credit

12 Payment Terms & Conditions

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