Mobile Operators and Users to Benefit from Secure, Intuitive Mobile Care Payment Solutions

BURLINGTON, MA – February 10, 2010 – Nuance Communications and Portland, Oregon-based Vesta Corporation, a global pioneer and leader in electronic payment solutions for wireless operators, today announced the partnership to co-promote and integrate Nuance’s Mobile Care application with Vesta’s Mobile Payment Platform, to deliver a comprehensive payment service to mobile operators worldwide.

This partnership will expand the on-device self-service capabilities of Nuance Mobile Care by enabling the subscribers of mobile operators to quickly and seamlessly make payments and handle other payment-related functions directly through their mobile handsets.  Expanded functionality includes bill presentment and account balance, balance alerts, bill payment, prepaid top-up, payment history and enabling general account inquiries.

“At present, research indicates that 50% of customer care calls to mobile operators are payment related,” said Chris Parsons, chief marketing officer of Vesta Corporation.  “Our partnership with Nuance will ensure that innovative and user friendly, end-to-end secure payment capabilities can be delivered directly from the handset.  This will dramatically reduce the number of customer care calls operators contend with as well as reducing the costs associated with supporting customer care operations.”

By empowering subscribers to manage and process their own payment transactions, Nuance and Vesta are taking strides to eliminate wait times for customer service agents and reduce the number of queries being handled by the mobile operator’s customer care facilities, in turn driving down costs and improving customer service.  Furthermore, Vesta’s technology fully complies with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which is mandated by leading credit card issuers, to ensure that requirements for payment data security are met.  Mobile operators will also benefit from full payment fraud indemnity enabled by Vesta’s detection and risk management capabilities.   

As a result of this collaborative offering, mobile operators will now have the ability to provide a comprehensive and secure self-service experience to consumers via the mobile channel.  Consumer research indicates that nearly a quarter of all mobile customers, and nearly a third of the youth market, prefer to pay through their handsets. Mobile consumers like the convenience and flexibility that mobile payments deliver.

“Our partnership with Vesta supports our strategic direction toward expanding Nuance’s Mobile Care offerings and our focus on providing innovative, secure self-service solutions to enterprises and mobile operators worldwide,” said Bob Wise, GM & SVP of Nuance Mobile Care.

Nuance and Vesta will be showcasing the application at the upcoming Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona from February 15th through 18th in Hall 2, Booth D33. For more information about Nuance Mobile Care, please visit http://www.nuance.com/mobilecare.