Piiko has announced that currently it is serving consumers with select phone plans in more than 100 countries worldwide wherein they can recharge their mobile phones using Bitcoin. Some major markets for the company include the US, China, Brazil and India. The company aims to reach millions of unbanked consumers worldwide with this service.
According to the company sources, it has long been a goal of the wider Bitcoin industry to reach to unbanked consumers; however, it has struggled to gain users outside of more developed countries. With the latest addition of the prepaid mobile phone top-up service using Bitcoin, Piiko has tried to take a stride towards the same goal.
Currently, the company provides top-up recharge services to consumers of more than 100 countries around the world that also include small countries like Nigeria and Philippines. The company makes it clear that it does not have all the operators in countries that it supports; however, major mobile networks are being catered.
Catering to the Unbanked Consumers in Under-Developed Countries
Any customer who wants to check if his number is supported should enter it into the form and find out. The company is going to provide a full list of available carriers soon to help customers know whether their services provider is included or not. Launched in April as the first product from Dubai-based Bitcoin startup Umbrellab, Piiko has several ambitious plans as well.
With Piiko Umbrellab plans to court consumers by allowing them to harness the power of Bitcoin for everyday utility purchases and prepaid mobile phone top-up recharge is just one of them. According to Umbrellab co-founders Tarik Kaddoumi and Sergey Yusupov their company started with mobile recharge as there was already a necessity.
The duo admit that as the market was ripe in terms of the Bitcoin community spending on various services and products worldwide, the company thought to venture into it first. Also, they say the plan is to extend into other services such as TV, Internet providers and other types of utility and bill payments that can be paid online, but are currently not accepting Bitcoin.
The ambitious plans did not mean that the company was moving ahead smoothly as the duo admits that Piiko has faced its share of difficulties, which saw the mobile top-up service re-launch just a few weeks ago after a lengthy blackout period.
To contact the reporter of this story: Deepak Tiwari at deepak@forexminute.com
According to the company sources, it has […]
