--- title: Protect Prepaid Airtime And Data Margins With MNO-Level Load Balancing description: Electrum’s MNO-level load balancing is an industry-first failover feature that protects margins and maximises availability in prepaid airtime and data. image: https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/MNO_blog_25.png --- [![Electrum](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Electrum_October2023/images/header-logo.png?width=500&height=150&name=header-logo.png "Electrum")](https://www.electrum.co.za/) ![Back Button](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Electrum_October2023/images/back.svg) Back ![Close Hamburger](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Electrum_October2023/images/close.svg) - [Home](https://www.electrum.co.za/) - Schemes - Schemes - Clearing House Payments - [PayShap](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/payshap) - [Real-Time Clearing](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/real-time-clearing) - [EFT Debit & Credit](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/electronic-funds-transfer) - 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Electrum’s Prepaid Airtime and Data service provides enhanced load balancing functionality to optimise commercials even more -  while maintaining service availability. According to [StatsSA](https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/statssa-publishes-general-household-survey-23-may-2024), 91% of South African households exclusively use mobile phones and nearly 73% of households access the internet through them. Consequently, prepaid airtime and data have become an essential value-added service (VAS) over the decades. Retailers and banks have responded to the opportunity by providing multiple channels for consumers to purchase airtime and data.  While profitable, prepaid airtime and data are commoditised, price-sensitive products with low margins. To protect revenue, businesses must negotiate competitive commercials with service providers and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and implement processes to ensure their services are always available for their customers.  > Load balancing is the ability to direct transactions to a preferred service provider and is an essential routing feature. Electrum’s Prepaid Airtime and Data solution offers load balancing at two levels - either at the service provider level or at the MNO level. Banks and retailers partner with multiple service providers as a way to implement failover procedures and maximise availability. Rather than place all their eggs in one basket, weightings to specify traffic route preference are used to enable the business to process more transactions through the service provider that offers the best commercials and success rate - maximising their profitability. When a preferred service provider experiences issues or cannot process transactions for a certain MNO, the weightings can be adjusted to direct traffic toward alternative service providers. This reduces downtime and limits customer impact. ![diagram_MNO](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hs-fs/hubfs/diagram_MNO.png?width=802&height=545&name=diagram_MNO.png)   Service provider-level load balancing ensures availability, but lacks the precision needed to address issues with individual MNOs. The addition of load balancing at an MNO level provides additional, powerful routing control to banks and retailers - allowing you to protect against commercial losses and improve operational efficiency. ## Enhanced agility and visibility with MNO-level load balancing  Load balancing at the MNO level gives businesses even greater control by allowing weightings to be adjusted one level further. Instead of affecting all transactions, routing changes can be made only for the impacted MNO traffic through a specific service provider. This flexible functionality allows businesses to enhance their Prepaid Airtime and Data business in three key ways:  ### 1. Optimising commercials  Commercial agreements with an MNO may be more competitive when they are routed through a specified service provider. MNO load balancing maximises your margins by enabling routing rules based on your commercial preferences. ### 2. Ensuring high availability Businesses can isolate the impact of the affected MNO while keeping all other transactions the same. This is achieved by maintaining the flow of healthy MNO traffic through the preferred service provider while rerouting the problematic MNO traffic to an alternative provider. This prevents service downtime and ensures a better experience for consumers - increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.  ### 3. Improved control Real-time MNO-level alerts allow for quicker issue resolution and fewer blind spots. Your teams are easily able to adjust weightings and specify routes to avoid outages. This removes the burden of time-consuming troubleshooting from your team - freeing capacity and allowing rapid response to service availability.    ## Take control of your commercials and uptime  Electrum’s [Prepaid Airtime and Data](https://www.electrum.co.za/digital-goods-and-services/prepaid-airtime-and-data) service provides enterprises with MNO-level load balancing to make every transaction count and keep customers coming back. With the Electrum Console, back-office teams can troubleshoot efficiently using real-time alerts and self-service tools to adjust weightings at any level and as needed. > Our cloud-native solution provides greater oversight of transaction processing health, giving you everything you need to optimise margins and improve your product performance.  [Chat with us](mailto:hello@electrum.co.za) to learn how Electrum’s Prepaid Airtime and Data service can amplify your VAS business.    ![Kganya Molefe](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/Blog%20Assets/Author%20Images/Kganya%20Molefe.jpeg) Kganya Molefe Kganya is a freelance Content Writer based in Johannesburg with experience in African Payments. When she’s not writing, Kganya enjoys journaling the old-fashioned way, listening to podcasts during her long walks, and passionately discussing the importance of low-cost, real-time, pan-African payment solutions with her friends and family. [More posts by  Kganya Molefe](https://blog.electrum.co.za/author/kganya-molefe) Recent Blog Posts ![Prepaid Electricity: Make Every Transaction Count](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/Broadcasting_Blog.png) ### Prepaid Electricity: Make Every Transaction Count ![Why Fast, Easy Expansion is Key to Accelerating VAS Growth](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/VAS%20Expansion%20Blog%20Cover-1.png) ### Why Fast, Easy Expansion is Key to Accelerating VAS Growth ![Why Expanded Access Sets Your Money Transfer Offering Apart](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/Money_Transfer_Blog_25%20compressed.png) ### Why Expanded Access Sets Your Money Transfer Offering Apart # Electrum Newsletter Quarterly insights and news to help you keep up with the latest changes in the payments landscape [![Electrum](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hs-fs/hubfs/Electrum_October2023/Images/footer-logo.png?width=500&height=150&name=footer-logo.png "Electrum")](https://www.electrum.co.za/) ###### Company - [Trust](https://trust.electrumsoftware.com/) - 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[Digital Vouchers](https://www.electrum.co.za/digital-goods-and-services/digital-vouchers) - [Cash Vouchers](https://www.electrum.co.za/payments/cash-vouchers) ###### Solutions - [Clearing House Payments Modernisation](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/clearing-house-payments-modernisation-for-existing-banks) - [Turnkey Clearing House Payments](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/turnkey-clearing-house-payments-for-new-banks) - [Enterprise Payments Channel](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/enterprise-payments-channel) - [PayShap-Ready QR Code Issuing](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/payshap-ready-qr-code-issuing) - [PayShap for Retailers](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/payshap-for-retailers) - [Cash Voucher Issuing and Distribution for Banks](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/cash-voucher-issuing-and-distribution-for-banks) - [Cash Voucher Retail Expansion for Banks](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/cash-voucher-retail-expansion-for-banks) - [Retail Cash-In and Cash-Out Expansion](https://www.electrum.co.za/solutions/retail-cash-in-and-cash-out-expansion) - 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