South African-based Net1 Mobile Solutions, is showcasing its secure prepaid mobile solutions designed for the utilities sector at this year’s African Utility Week held in Cape Town this week.
“The benefits of a prepaid electricity system are obvious” said Philip Belamant, Managing Director of Net1 Mobile Solutions. “Consumers can plan their purchase and consumption of energy, while landlords and utilities are saved the administration costs and inconvenience of managing electricity bills paid in arrears – if, that is, they are indeed paid.”
Belamant emphasized that efficiency is closely linked to security, saying that the security of a prepaid system – whether for electricity, water or gas – is fundamental to its success. “Prism Standard Transfer Specification approved security modules, brought to market by Net1 Mobile Solutions’ Cryptography business line, has set the security standard in meter and vending systems,” he added.
“Security is a core focus of the digital age, critical to the enablement and processing of trusted transactions and payments. Net1 Mobile Solutions’ Cryptography business line has placed substantial focus on relevant and innovative product development, with an extended range of Prism-branded products that offers complete end-to-end security,” Belamant continued.
Prism’s security modules are global leaders in the prepaid electronic payments industry, and have achieved the highest certifications possible, including FIPS 140-2 level 4, awarded to the Prism TSM410 and TSM500, Prism’s two flagship models. The TSM500i has achieved the PCI-HSM version two certification, and is to date, the only hardware security module worldwide to have achieved this.
According to Net1 Mobile Solutions, the range of security solutions offered by Prism includes:
- The Prism TSM100 – chip based Secure Access Models (SAMs), designed for financial transactions and EMV terminal support.
- The Prism TSM210/250 – affordable, tamper-proof security modules that provide message authentication and encryption services for the STS prepaid electricity, water and gas markets.
- The Prism TSM500 – offering high performance, high security services for use in EFT switches and other top-end transaction processing areas.
- The Prism WEBVEND STS – an STS certified vending solution built into the TSM500 NSS for high speed online vending requirements, or a low cost solution that runs from a PC/laptop for immediate STS vending.
- Prism Trust Centres and Key Loading Stations – terminal personalisation in a trusted centre environment to protect sensitive data, ensuring system integrity, risk reduction and streamlined operations.
The wide product range, backed by the most stringent security systems in the world, has seen the company behind Prism, Net1 Mobile Solutions, be appointed by the STS Association to take the lead in producing security specifications and standards for the next generation of STS technologies. These specifications will meet the needs of the prepaid electricity market in emerging and developed markets.
They include the first Key Management Centre, developed by Prism and completed by Net1 Mobile Solutions, that responds to global trends such as remote key injection and online registration, along with other operational applications. These and other security module offerings have been developed in accordance with the new STS/IEC specifications and support new features such as Rollover Bit (the equivalent of Y2K in STS terms) and modern internationally standardised encryption algorithms with 128 bit and higher security.
“Net1 Mobile Solutions is also home to EasyPay and FIHRST, giving the company the combined expertise to provide end-to-end mobile solutions across a wide range of industries, with a particular relevance for the utilities sector,” states Belamant. The company brings together STS technology, mobile virtual top-ups, mobile banking, mobile virtual cards, payments systems and payroll solutions to offer flexible vending solutions.
