Euronet Worldwide's subsidiary, e-pay New Zealand, launched its electronic top-up (e-top-up) services at approximately 240 Shell Select convenience store and petrol sites in New Zealand.

Shell New Zealand Ltd is the third major oil company to join e-pay's New Zealand prepaid network. Shell's convenience stores, using the e-pay service, will add Vodafone prepaid top-up capabilities to their list of convenience items. Shell, operating in New Zealand for more than 90 years, is the country's eighth largest company by revenue, according to Management Magazine's ranking of New Zealand's top 200 companies.

"One of our goals at Shell New Zealand is to provide our customers with everyday convenience, and e-pay's top-up solutions will help us offer one of today's most popular services: top-up for prepaid airtime," said Cameron Taylor, Shell New Zealand Category Manager. "With the e-pay solution, we are able to offer prepaid top-up quickly and without a major capital investment."

The e-top-up payment method replaces scratch-off cards, which are more costly to handle and may have a high instance of theft. Vodafone, one of two mobile operators providing service in New Zealand, has an agreement with e-pay to enable its customers to purchase prepaid airtime at Shell and other participating retailers. Upon completion this agreement, New Zealanders will have direct access to top-up their Vodafone prepaid mobile phones at more than 600 locations throughout the nation.

Almost 70%, or 2.7 million, of New Zealanders use a mobile phone, and according to EMC Database, 68% of those subscribers use prepaid mobile service. EMC Database expects New Zealand's prepaid business will grow to 3.4 million to 2008.