Ingenico is collaborating with mobile phone operator Orange, to enable its customers in France to top up their accounts via its subsidiary, Ingenico Prepaid Services (view press release). Orange will utilise Ingenico Prepaid Services payment terminals with NFC technology to test a direct, contactless top-up system for its prepaid customers.

The service will work when a salesman at the POS selects a product from the Orange Mobicarte product range after having received payment for the top-up. They will then ask the customer to scan their tag (sticker or key ring with NFC chip) using the payment terminal. Subsequently, the payment terminal will identify the customer number and forward the top-up request to Orange, which adds the amount of credit corresponding to this number to the customer's account in real time. The payment terminal then prints out a ticket containing the transaction number, which is issued as a receipt.