Citizen printer enables green solution for telecoms prepayment

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug. 2, 2012 - The compact, adaptable and reliable Citizen PMU 2200 II printer has ensured the success of the Okobox, a greener way to provide telecommunications prepayment.  The Okobox allows prepayment to be made via a single point-of-sale interface that prints a coupon via a Citizen PMU 2200 II, thus avoiding the negative environmental impact of mass producing phone cards.

This custom solution was designed to address the market needs of the Comorian Telecom companies.  In the Comoros (independent islands in the Indian Ocean, off Mozambique and Madagascar), 99% of all telecommunication is sold through pre-paid systems and often in transactions that involve very low amounts of credit.  Historically, the telephone operators have sold these credits via prepaid cards; however, these demand high manufacturing costs and exert a disastrous environmental impact.  

To tackle the problem, Okotelecom used its experience of more than 10 years with African and European operators (particularly in the context of prepaid) and set out to design a solution that would meet the needs of the Comorian market.  This required the development of a solid, reliable, maintenance-free product that would provide a more environmentally-friendly solution.  Okotelecom’s solution was the Okobox, a compact unit consisting of a touch-screen and application software, connected to a printer that can produce a coded ticket on thermal paper, which is completely biodegradable.  Both the software and hardware were developed entirely in-house by Okotelecom, but when it came to a printing solution, the company turned to Citizen.

The choice of printer was essential, as Frank Castronovo, director of Okotelecom, explains. "It was important to choose a reliable and robust printer that requires no maintenance,” Frank said.  “After studying the kiosk printers available on the market, we decided on the PMU 2200 II printer from Citizen System Europe.  We needed a technically reliable printer that meets the high demands of adaptability and compactness, and the Citizen PMU 2200 II kiosk printer fitted the bill perfectly."

The Citizen PMU 2200 II series kiosk printer for ticket printing can accommodate paper rolls up to 102mm in diameter, which can be loaded on the left, right or on top.  Moreover, this is a high-performance unit that can print at up to 150 mm/s, and functions in a wide temperature range from -20° C to + 60° C.

Frank Castronovo’s colleague Benjamin Thevenot explained why he felt that the Okobox project had been so successful. "The Okobox responded exactly to the needs of the market,” Thevenot said.  “The enthusiasm was enormous.  In fact, this system costs about ten times less than the prepaid card and sales of our operator clients have literally exploded.  The fact is that this system allows for low amounts to be credited because the operator no longer has to offset the cost of producing its prepaid card."

"Beyond the performance of the software we developed,” Frank Castronovo added, “the Okobox meets all of the performance and resistance criteria.  We have currently equipped nearly 500 outlets that print 700,000 coupons per month.  Our statistics make it possible to establish that up to 7,000 coupons are printed per day on certain Okobox.  We have exceeded 35 million coupons printed since the project launch.  The success of the Okobox proves that the Citizen PMU 2200 II printer is an excellent product.  Four years after the first installations, they still exist and we have not encountered any maintenance problems.  Only the print heads needed to be changed sometimes, which is extremely easy to do.  The reliability, robustness and ease of maintenance of the Citizen PMU 2200 II has validated our decision to choose this printer, which has all of the required qualities.  We are working on a similar project in Niger with a new application and Citizen will be associated with this project because we are extremely pleased with this partnership."


Citizen Systems Europe
Citizen Systems Europe operates from locations throughout Europe covering the EMEA region. It offers a wide range of printers for industrial, retail, healthcare and mobile applications specialising in label, barcode, portable and point-of-sale printers.  In each case, the company’s products are sold and supported by a network of specialised partners.

Citizen Systems Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Citizen Systems Japan and part of the Citizen group of companies, a global organisation that manufactures products ranging from its world-famous Eco-Drive watches, calculators, mini-printers and industrial printing systems to machine tools, quartz oscillators, LEDs and other electronic components.

For further information contact Jörk Schüßler, European Marketing Manager for Citizen System Europe. Citizen Systems Europe, 643 - 651 Staines Road, Feltham, Middlesex, TW14 8PA.

Tel: 020 8893 1900.
Fax: 020 8893 0080.
Email: joerk.schuessler@citizen-europe.com
Web: http://www.citizen-europe.com

- E N D -

This press information was written and distributed by http://www.4CM.co.uk For further copies, colour separation requests, images or other details on Citizen System Europe, please contact us on 01296 660080 or email: info.citizen@4cm.co.uk. CSE283

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/11940221/1