Ukash, a United Kingdom-based firm that sells prepaid vouchers for online shopping, on March 29 signed an open-ended agreement with QIWI, a Russia-based electronic-payments company. Under the deal, QIWI will make Ukash vouchers available for purchase at 100,000 kiosks throughout Russia.
QIWI owns and manages a network of terminals that accept cash payments for mobile phone top-ups, bill payments, bus and rail tickets, and entertainment. Ukash’s partnership with QIWI brings to eight the number of agreements Ukash has signed with Russian-based electronics payments companies, says Paul Coxhill, Ukash marketing director.
QIWI also has operations in Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan, though it is offering the Ukash service only in Russia, says Libby Andrews, a Ukash spokesperson.
QIWI will enable consumers to buy Ukash vouchers using cash at any of its kiosks. The vouchers contain 19-digit text messages, which O2, a QIWI company, will send to kiosk users’ mobile phones, says Coxhill. Voucher users type in the numbers into online retail Web sites to purchase products or services online.
“Ukash is popular with people who don’t have bank accounts, credit card accounts,” Andrews says. The service also is popular with online gamblers and Skype customers, she says. Skype, a software application, enables users to make voice calls over the Internet.
Russian citizens purchase the vouchers in rubles, and QIWI converts the purchase amount to euros, ranging from 10 euros (US$13) to 500 euros, Andrews says. Purchase fees were not immediately available.
Smart Voucher Ltd. and Blue Label Telecoms Ltd., a payments company based in South Africa, own Ukash, which has 420,000 physical purchase points in 30 countries. Consumers also may purchase Ukash vouchers online. Ukash is Smart Voucher’s brand name, Coxhill says. QIWI is the brand name of OE Investments.
Meanwhile, Ukash plans to announce a partnership with MasterCard Worldwide April 27 in which UK and German Ukash customers may have their 19-digit Ukash numbers converted to a MasterCard number to purchase items online, says Coxhill, noting the deal will increase Ukash worldwide acceptance.
Ukash vouchers are not yet available in the United States.
