Mobile Sense plans to enter the UK market early next year as a top-up merchant, using the Sanchez package and SMS messaging to connect users to top-up networks for on-the-spot purchase of airtime. If it takes off, Mobile Sense will eliminate the need to make a cash purchase at a retail outlet or bank ATM. The ultimate idea is to extend the service to offer consumers the ability to purchase additional products from their mobile phones.

The company has secured a top-up network partnership and is implementing Sanchez Profile at its site in the UK. Plans call for a soft launch with a closed-loop customer base in early 2004. In addition to receiving an initial license fee for Sanchez Profile, Sanchez will receive a monthly maintenance fee and monthly transaction fees based on the top-up volumes generated by the venture.

Mobile Sense co-founder Hugh Croxford started his career with Barclays Bank in the UK and Citibank and HSBC in the USA, where he was a founding executive director of Nyce, the largest shared ATM network in the US. Subsequently he worked with Alltel and Sanchez on software sales to the banking industry. Kerl Haslam, his partner in the venture, has spent the past 14 years in the mobile industry, most recently as director of back office systems and strategy for Orange.