El Patron Phone Card Commercial

Here is a rather low budget but effective commercial for the El Patron phone card.

Letter From Laurette Veres - CEO Intelecard News Magazine

I received what amounts to a fond farewell letter via email on Thursday from the CEO of Intelecard News, Laurette Veres. The letter is basically to inform everyone once again of the end of Intelecard News (now part of Wireless Dealer Magazine) and to thank all of the readers for the last 14 years of readership. Here is the letter I received via email from Laurette in it's entirety:

Since 1994, my focus has been to provide news and information to the prepaid industry through InteleCardNews Magazine, www.intelecard.com and www.InteleCardExpo.com With over 250 print editions and 25 national expos, I've tracked this dynamic market place and the people in it. Providing news and information to the prepaid industry has been a nearly 15-year focus.

It has been my pleasure to track an incredibly dynamic marketplace and the dedicated entrepreneurs who have made it so. Yet the industry is still evolving; so
are we. I am pleased to announce the next phase in the InteleCard odyssey - a strategic merger with Wireless Dealer Magazine & Expo. As the prepaid and wireless industries converge, this merger is in-step with that trend to the benefit of our expansion and yours.

A refreshed energy generated by these markets will inspire your ongoing success with new ideas and the prospect of new partnerships and clients. InteleCardNews and Expo is dedicated to that, which is why I am personally inviting you to meet old and new players at our upcoming Expo. Join me there, and see what is possible for the next phase in your ventures.

Thank you for your loyalty and support, after all these years, and I can't wait to see you in Las Vegas !

Laurette Veres
CEO,
Intelecard News Magazine
www.wirelessdealerexpo.com

STI Takes Over CVT

I reported about a month back in my post "Rumor - STI in Talks with CVT Prepaid" about the rumored take over by STI of CVT Prepaid... well now it is officially not a rumor anymore!

Inside sources at those companies tell me that the "merger/takeover" is now complete and things are underway in merging the two companies together. For now it looks like STI will continue to utilize the CVT brand name at least for a little while and work to transition over all new pin generating over to the STI platform.

Operationally everything is still intact at CVT and no formal plans or layoffs have been announced about the merger, but I don't doubt that the CVT platform will be phased out eventually, since maintaining two independent calling card platforms makes no financial sense.

I'm sure STI will find some valuable resources in CVT (personnel, technology, hardware) and incorporate those into their operations but overall I think CVT as we know it will be gone by the end of the year. They had a good run but the industry has shrunk too much to sustain all of these companies. I'm also sure it won't be the last consolidation we see in this business this year!

International Prepaid Mobile Top Up Programs Gaining Steam

A year or two ago the concept of paying for someones overseas prepaid mobile phone did not exist. If you wanted to do this you had to wire money via Western Union to your family or friend and trust that they would spend the money on their mobile phone top up. But let's be honest, a lot of people had problems with the fact that the money was not always being used on essential items like it was supposed to! Now we are starting to see the beginnings of an industry that will provide people with a piece of mind, by allowing them to pay for their friends or families prepaid mobile phone service from right here in the US.

The service is being called Mobile Top-Up and works much like a money remittance type of program except that the funds are going instantly to the mobile phone company to pay for the service. The product is usually sold online, but is also starting to be sold in card form at convenience stores. The amount of international mobile phone providers participating in these types of programs are limited right now, but as the concept gains in popularity, more and more are likely to enter the fray.

A few companies I could find on the web offering such a service are:

ARYTY - Company owned by Gorilla Mobile offering top-ups for Philippines mobile carriers and just recently adding India Mobile carriers to their product line.

EZETOP (Offering Top-Ups for just about all Caribbean countries) - Available online or through Blackstone Touch-N-Buy Kiosks

CYBERPLAT - A Mobile Top Up company facilitating mobile top ups throuout Russia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine.

MORE MAGIC - A mobile payment platform provider that just partnered with Vendtek, a provider of automated transaction software company to distribute mobile-top ups through Vendtek's existing base.

IDT INTERNATIONAL MOBILE TOP-UP - While there is no mobile partners clearly listed on their site it appears as if they have some mobile carriers signed up if they are offering this service.

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Note - Here are some interesting articles on mobile payments and value transfer and another white paper from Atos a Mobile payment enabler.

teCuento Milamores Phone Card Commercial

Here is a Spanish language commercial for the teCento prepaid calling card.

Reminder To Vote On The Online Poll for September

I know we are only half way through the month but I just wanted to remind everyone to vote for their favorite card series. The survey can be found just to the right of here and lasts until the end of the month. The winner of this poll will be featured on the Card of the Month section for October.

So don't miss it and get your votes in now!

IDT Expands Oil Shale Business Into Israel as Shares Drop Below $1

IDT Corp has been granted a licence to produce oil from oil share reserves in Israel. The deal will allow IDT 7 years exclusivity on mining and extracting oil from the countries vast oil shale fields between Kiryat Gat and Bet Shemesh. This deal follows only months after IDT had purchased the rights to rich oil shale land in Western Colorado.

This deal seems to solidify the fact that IDT Chairman, Howard Jonas, views the oil shale business and not so much telecom, as the future of the company. Investors seem to be reluctant to believe that this oil shale industry can be capitalized on any time soon, as witnessed in the sharply declining company stock price, dropping below the $1 mark for the first time today even after the announcement of the deal in Israel!

Senate Panel Hearing on Prepaid Phone Cards Concludes

On Wednesday a Senate panel hearing was conducted on the prepaid calling card business. Presentations included those by Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic, Hispanic Institute President Gus West, Senator Bill Nelson (D. Fla.), executive director of the National Consumers League Sally Greenberg, commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission Patricia Acampora, and director of marketing for the Military Marketing, LLC, a New York-based firm that helps businesses market their products to the military Rosemary O'Brien.

While no formal decisions were made or laws enacted at this meeting, the presenters all stated their case that the prepaid calling card business has been engaged in deceptive marketing practices and that more enforcement was needed to bring these companies into line. One such proposal, is the bill S. 2998, the Prepaid Calling Card Consumer Protection Act of 2008 which would call for tougher enforcement on all prepaid calling card distributors and providers to ensure that consumers are being accurately informed of all of the charges and fees in order to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Perhaps the most compelling case was made by Hispanic Institute President Gus West, whose group conducted a long term study on prepaid calling cards back in 2007 and found that the majority of all cards in the market delivered significantly less than advertised minutes.

To find out more you can read the full transcript of the Senate hearing

Ruby Phone Card Commercial

Here is a fairly sexy Spanish language phone card commercial

Touch-Tel Selects Phone House, Inc. As Master Distributor in California

Phone House, Inc. a subsidiary of China Voice Holding Corporation (CHVC) (PINKSHEETS: CHVC) has been selected by Touch-Tel as it's master distributor for Southern California. Phone House has over 90 sub distributors which servce over 5,000 retailers and expects to sell over 15 million anualy of Touch-Tel branded cards. The cards that will be given exclusively to Phone House include: La Salvadorena California, La Hondurena Especial California, La Guatemalteca ORO California, La Hondurena MEGA California, Mexico Celular MEGA, De dos California, Mexico MEGA California, La Hondurena Oro California, La Guatemalteca MEGA California, La Guatemalteca California and La Salvadorena California.

The move is an important one for Touch-Tel who will now lock up a relatively new market for them. Expect to see other new exclusive cards by Touch-Tel in this market within the coming weeks and months.

The Results Of The August Survey Are In....

Well the results are in to our August survey question: "What Is Your Biggest Concern With The Prepaid Business?" The number one concern by a landslide as voted by you the readers was the poor economy followed in a distant second place by "competition" and tied with one vote a piece were "regulations" and "supply costs."

I can't say I am surprised by these results but it was interesting to see by how large of a margin that the poor economy beat out competition.

We are changing up this months survey a little by allowing you to vote for next month's featured card of the month. The winning prepaid phone card will be featured for October on the card of the month section of the site on the right hand side.