“Not just a cellphone…”
Where I’m from, credit card theft isn’t such a big deal. In fact the rumors of credit card swiping scandals aren’t as ominous as how they are claimed to be. What is actually more rampant is cellphone theft. The mobile phone serves more functionality that just making calls - no surprise here. It’s a PDA, a clock, a camera, small computer … but these are hardware givens.
What the cellphone is to most of my countrymen is a payment hub, a metro rail transit pass, a debit card,and many more. With the stiff competition between telcos, the providers are not only coming up with cheaper services - but more innovative ones at that. Telco “A” provides subscribers with prepaid link to the metro rail system that automatically deducts balance from your phone when you flash a handy piece of plastic across the rail sensor. Telco “B” innovates a way for you to send off prepaid load from your postpaid line to your kids phones. Your kids can also “ask” for credit by sending an SMS to an operator number. Telco “C” allows you to purchase three postpaid lines for only $20.00 with a set amount of credit for each phone. This supposedly is targeted to families who need to be constantly in touch, earning only $6.00 a day.
The phone isn’t just a communications device back here. If stolen, pains have to be taken to cut the line and renew certain value added services. In fact, a lot of people back home tend to invest more on the phone’s insurance provided by the telco rather than their own health insurance.
What the cellphone is to most of my countrymen is a payment hub, a metro rail transit pass, a debit card,and many more. With the stiff competition between telcos, the providers are not only coming up with cheaper services - but more innovative ones at that. Telco “A” provides subscribers with prepaid link to the metro rail system that automatically deducts balance from your phone when you flash a handy piece of plastic across the rail sensor. Telco “B” innovates a way for you to send off prepaid load from your postpaid line to your kids phones. Your kids can also “ask” for credit by sending an SMS to an operator number. Telco “C” allows you to purchase three postpaid lines for only $20.00 with a set amount of credit for each phone. This supposedly is targeted to families who need to be constantly in touch, earning only $6.00 a day.
The phone isn’t just a communications device back here. If stolen, pains have to be taken to cut the line and renew certain value added services. In fact, a lot of people back home tend to invest more on the phone’s insurance provided by the telco rather than their own health insurance.
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