Ding out to ring up lucrative French deal

IRISH global phone credit company Ding is eyeing up 70,000 French retailers as part of the next phase of a new European partnership agreement.

Last week the Ballsbridge-headquartered company agreed a partnership with proximity retail service provider Logista that will see it provide international top-up services at over 10,000 Spanish outlets. With 11 million pre-paid phones in Spain, that market is already understood to be worth €100m overall.

But Ding hopes to also expand the new partnership with Logista to win business from France’s six million pre-paid phone customers.

“This is just phase one of the new agreement,” said Ding’s head of Europe, Declan Burke. “Phase two will see Ding also partner with Logista in France, where they currently have 70,000 locations, 25,000 of which offer domestic mobile top-up. Ding will provide the international top-up piece for this business.

“This is a very significant business opportunity for Ding to expand its footprint across Europe and tap into the growing demand for international mobile top-up. More than three-quarters of the world’s mobile phones are prepaid, rising to more than 90pc in emerging market. The demand to keep these phones topped up grows daily,” he added.