Paypal has teamed up with TransferTo, a global airtime remittance leader, to offer mobile airtime top-up in Canada.
Without any transfer fees, Canadians can now use their PayPal account to instantly top up prepaid mobile phones of their relatives and friends in more than 100 countries including India.
All the Canadian-based sender needs is their PayPal account and the mobile number of the recipient, to top up a prepaid mobile phone using their smartphone, tablet or computer.
Paypal announced the partnership on July 27 in Toronto.
“Mobile phones help connect people with their communities, and give them access to education, employment, and essential medical and financial services,” said Cameron Schmidt, general manager, PayPal Canada. “With today’s announcement, Canadians can extend a lifeline to their grandmother who needs to frequently call her doctor in Delhi or help their brother access the Internet from his mobile phone in Ludhiana.”
According to Statistics Canada, one out of five people living in Canada were born abroad. A large number of Canadian immigrants are from India1 – a region that has heavy mobile phone usage. India is the third leading country of birth among people who immigrated to Canada between 2006 and 2011i. There are 941 million mobile connections in India of which 95 per cent are prepaidii. With PayPal and TransferTo’s new service, Indo-Canadians can top up prepaid phones of their family and friends that are registered with leading Indian mobile phone service providers.
“People come first for me. Staying connected with my aunts, uncles and relatives in India is an essential part of my life,” says basketball superfan, Nav Bhatia, a Toronto-based Sikh entrepreneur who moved to Canada 30 years ago. “In life, and in basketball – communication is the key to success. PayPal now offers me a way to top up my relatives’ prepaid mobile phones. Now, regardless of the distance, we can operate better as a team and feel closer as a family.”
fii-news.com
