About ENTEL

A telecommunications company founded in Chile in 1964, with operations in Chile and Peru. It provides data center services, mobile and fixed telephony, internet access, television services, and long-distance carrier services.

In Chile, the company holds a 32% share of the mobile telephony market, serving more than 7 million customers and generating revenues of approximately US$2.9 billion.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Centralized Recharge System was implemented to support Prepaid and Controlled Account customers. The system primarily manages monetary recharges and applies promotions originating from multiple platforms, such as IVR, web channels, and distributor POS networks located in retail stores.

Managing a high volume of commercial and technical validations associated with recharge requests—and the subsequent application of balances to operational systems—was a key challenge. As a result, it was essential to design a solution that was robust, scalable over time, and capable of delivering high availability and uptime.

To achieve this, a multi-layer architecture was defined to support:

• High transaction volumes
• Peak demand during specific hours and dates
• Load balancing and fault tolerance

Validations: The Core of the Centralized Recharge System

The validation layer—the most critical component of the system—was developed using independent, unit-based controls. These validations can be activated on demand and applied based on the information associated with each transaction, providing a highly flexible and configurable solution.

Customer Validations

• Blacklists
• Graylists
• Loan-based balances for special recharge scenarios

Merchant Validations

• POS-based recharges at pharmacies and retail stores
• Maximum daily recharge amounts

• Mobile number ranges
• Recharge amounts
• Recharge frequency

Technical Validations

• Availability of integration interfaces with external systems and operational platforms where recharges are applied

Additional Features of the Centralized Recharge System

Within the recharge processing layer, the system includes real-time transaction reconciliation, integration error alerts, and reversal management for special cases, among other features.

Additionally, the system provides a web-based administration interface that allows configuration of validations by customer or merchant profile. Through this interface, administrators can:

• Enable or disable services
• Configure system parameters
• Manage recharge-related bonuses and promotions

Other notable features include retry management, recharge load balancing, promotion handling, and redeeming recharges for reward points, among others.

Post-Implementation Support and Evolution

Following implementation, Tecnova assumed responsibility for the system’s evolutionary maintenance and 24×7 support for 11 years. During this period, a significant number of functional enhancements were delivered, including:

• Integrations with new merchants and systems
• Adaptations to support new commercial services and products
• Implementation of new commercial validation rules

From a support perspective, Tecnova handled application monitoring and operations, as well as data and application fixes in response to production incidents or infrastructure changes.

Additional Tecnova Solutions for ENTEL

More information about other solutions developed by Tecnova for ENTEL includes:

• Customer Loyalty Support System
• Centralized Promotion Management System