At the most basic level, airtime can only be used by purchasing credits from a telecommunications provider.
Having it allows users to access network services, such as SMS, voice, data, etc. Recharging, adding value or mobile credit to a prepaid phone is what is called a top-up.
Cross border top-ups
The availability of data and services from a mobile operator could be taken for granted in many
developed countries. However, that is not the case in emerging markets. That’s why sending
load to countries in the developing world is more common each day.
Although in the past the use of prepaid cards, ATM loads, or the traditional recharge provided in a retailer point was widely used, nowadays technology has allowed recharging credit from different countries. The process is simple and the results are not only fast, but also reliable.
Top-ups are especially useful to send load to family, friends or partners abroad, but the extent of the people that get advantages from them is wider than that. Traders, students abroad, tourists, business travelers, migrant workers, and refugees can top-up their mobile phones globally for a variety of purposes.
You might be interested to read our article on: 9 ways technology in the developing world are transforming lives
Step by step: Sending airtime abroad
Airtime top-ups is a service available to purchase mobile airtime for a prepaid cell phone in different currency exchanges, for different countries and from anywhere in the world. This method is mostly used for prepaid phones. But some other mobile operators allow postpaid phones to add top-ups for different purposes such as extra data allowance.
Services vary from one website or platform to another, but typically the process is the same. Choose the country, select the amount to recharge, fill in the information in the fields provided and receive the confirmation of the payment and load.
Users can send as much or as little credit as they wish and they don’t have to worry about the
fact that the recipient may not receive the load, as it reaches them almost instantly.
