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Cashbox PLC's recent announcement that some of its ATMs will sell vouchers that provide Internet access at Wi-Fi hotspots is one of the many ways ATM deployers are looking to leverage the value of the prime real estate the machines occupy.
"This is the start of many new innovative ways that bring additional value to the consumer at ATM locations, as well as helping fund ATM deployments," Mike Foster, sales manager for BankZone AS, an Oslo, Norway-based company that produces and markets privacy shields mounted around ATMs, says of the Cashbox initiative.
The industry is taking different approaches to leveraging the value of prime space occupied by ATMs. For example, BankZone provides an environment for consumers to conduct their private transactions and at the same time turns prime ATM locations into business storefronts with advertising panels, digital signage and other new technologies and services, Foster says.
In the five-year deal Cashbox signed last month with United Kingdom-based wireless-technology provider BT Group PLC, 10 Cashbox ATMs initially will offer the Wi-Fi vouchers and service, says Ciaran Morton, CEO of the UK-based nonbank ATM owner and operator. Spots include ATMs near bars and restaurants in London, Manchester and other UK cities.
The Wi-Fi service will cost users at least 8 cents per minute, Cashbox says.
Cashbox, which operates more than 2,500 cash machines, anticipates a "fast rollout" of the service, Morton says, declining to say how many more ATMs might offer the service by year end.
The service uses BT Openzone, the network name of Wi-Fi hotspots deployed by British Telecom.
"We are seeing a huge demand for Wi-Fi in the leisure-and-hospitality sector," Chris Bruce, BT Openzone general manager, said in a statement.
How ATMs that support Wi-Fi access will affect the market is unclear, Graham McKay, director of the ATM Industry Association for Europe and Middle East, wrote ATM&Debit News in an e-mail message. "To add Wi-Fi capability is fine, but you now need additional space in the region of the ATM for people to sit and operate phones and terminals, and space is normally of premium value in the retail locations," he writes.
Cashbox continually is looking for ways to extend its service offerings, Morton adds. "And with exciting initiatives such as this, we are providing our customers with additional opportunities to utilize the ATM machines," Morton says. ATM
