MHITS

mHITs (Mobile Handset Initiated TransactionS) is an Australia micropayment service which allows users to send and receive money via SMS. The company offers a person-to-person payment system that uses a mobile phone as the transaction device rather than an automatic teller or EFTPOS terminal. Users send and receive money via SMS text message and can make payments instantly between any Australian mobile phone.
Users can also make purchases from on-line merchants, pay parking fees and taxi fares. mHITs also offers a Point Of Sale (POS) terminal which allows the service to be used at retail points of sale, such as ordering a coffee or purchasing a magazine. As the SMS authorising payment can also include a message, users have discovered that the service can be utilised to pre-order products, such that they are ready for pickup upon arrival at the store.
History
mHITs was first launched in Australia in 2004 as a platform for delivering pre-paid mobile re-charge vouchers via SMS.
The service was re-launched in May 2006 in its current form as a mobile wallet, focusing on person-to-person transactions and beginning a limited rollout of merchant terminals in and around Sydney. The service has since expanded to include venues around the country, focusing primarily on ordering and paying coffee.
mHITs has won numerous awards for innovation including The Australian Mobile Awards.
mHITs was an episode winner on ABC TVs The New Inventors and has won technology and innovation awards including the Australian Capital Territory's financial category of the iAwards, and the People's Choice Next Big Thing Award in 2007.
In 2009, the company has expanded its operations to apply its mobile payment technology in the developing world for the unbanked. Several services have been deployed in Papua New Guinea in conjunction with Digicel PNG. One very successful service has been their BuyPower platform which enabled subscribers to purchase prepaid electricity directly using carrier airtime. The service operates under the service Easipawa Easipay on the Digicel PNG network.
More work on the company's work in developing markets including case studies is available on their corporate website mHITs Limited. Their focus is on Asia-Pacific and African markets.
Operation
mHITs utilises a prepaid model (identical in principle to pre-paid phone credit) to ensure that the customer has funds ready to use before authorising payment transactions. This model ensures that the customer will not continue incurring debt or overdraw fees as an mHITs account cannot be overdrawn. This model is based on the standard mobile wallet architecture used for payment systems in developing markets such as mPesa in Kenya.
Under the mHITs Australia SMS mobile wallet, users and merchants are required to register an account with mHITs to access the mHITs payment service. Transactions are possible between:
*Individual users, for instance the payment of personal debts or a portion of a meal,
*Users and POS Merchants, for instance the payment of coffee,
*Users and Online Merchants, for instance the payment of mobile ringtones and games.
*Parking
*International Remittance - mHITs allows users to remit funds instantly to counterpart mobile money operators around the world
The platform also has the ability to be used for online or digital purchases.
Current status
The number of cafe locations opting to join the mHITs network has been steadily growing since the beginning of 2009. The current promotion "Next Coffee Free," began in early April 2009 and coincided with a Facebook advertising campaign in an effort to gain further brand awareness. Customers opting to join the service are welcomed with an initial free $5 worth of credit. The service provides an additional $5 credit to existing members for each new person they introduce to mHITs.
Canberra based coffee chain "Coffee Guru" recently launched mHITs in its stores, enabling its customers to bypass the ordering queue.
In 2012 mHITs launched an International Mobile Remittance service which allows mHITs users to send money instantly to counterpart mobile money services in overseas markets. This service is one of the first of its type in the world and offers the lowest cost remittance available. Current remittance corridors include The Philippines (Globe GCash and Smart Money), Ghana (MTN Money), Kenya (m-Pesa) and Nepal (eSewa). See mHITs Remit

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