Challenge

As ByteSIM’s user base expanded across the US, Europe, and Asia, its legacy payments infrastructure struggled to keep pace with its high-speed service offerings. While ByteSIM provided travelers with 5G connectivity and fast responses from its 24/7 multilingual support team, the payment experience was far from “instant.” The company relied on a local Hong Kong acquiring partner that lacked global reach, resulting in failed transactions for common card types in key markets. In some regions, transactions failed simply because the local acquirer didn’t support the card type. While in others, low authorization rates capped growth.

Most importantly, the legacy system could not support Apple Pay or Google Pay. For a service designed for travelers on the move, the inability to offer mobile wallets was an obstacle.
ByteSIM also faced sophisticated fraud attacks. The company deals in high-frequency transactions, ranging from quick top-ups to premium unlimited data options. While the company uses intelligent network selection across multiple carriers to ensure signal strength, its legacy backend couldn’t distinguish between legitimate travelers and professional fraud rings. Their previous provider offered rigid risk controls that lacked the customization needed to detect professional fraud patterns in high-frequency transactions, leading to financial losses.

The previous provider’s long settlement cycles delayed access to funds, limiting ByteSIM’s control over working capital and slowing the pace of their international expansion.

Solution

By partnering with Stripe in 2023, ByteSIM delivers a one-click experience. Stripe’s multiproduct portfolio helped ByteSIM upgrade its payment methods, risk control, and fund flows.
The team prioritized mobile conversion by integrating Stripe Payments to launch Apple Pay and Google Pay within a few days. This allowed ByteSIM to meet the preference among international travelers for mobile wallets, simplifying the checkout process.

ByteSIM also added Link, a wallet built by Stripe. Link autofills payment details for returning customers, which reduces the purchase-to-activation window to under three minutes—key for emergencies when network traffic is running low.

The team deployed Stripe Radar for Fraud Teams to filter out attacks without blocking legitimate travelers. Rather than relying on rigid risk controls, the team used Radar’s custom rules to address specific attack vectors, such as triggering dynamic 3D Secure (3DS) authentication only on high-risk transactions. They also used the AI-powered Radar Assistant to backtest new fraud rules against historical data, allowing the operations team to predict the impact of a rule on legitimate conversion rates before deploying it to production.

Finally, Stripe offers a faster payout cycle and automated settlement process, improving ByteSIM’s cash flow management. This global payment system not only improves payment success rates and security but has allowed ByteSIM to achieve a comprehensive leap in operational efficiency and user experience.

Results

Mobile wallets drive 70% of checkout volume

After integrating Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay quickly became the most frequently used payment methods for ByteSIM users, accounting for over 70% of total transactions. This has streamlined the mobile checkout process and improved conversion rates.

Global acquiring coverage significantly improved, spanning 200+ countries and regions

With Stripe’s international payment network, ByteSIM has achieved stable acquiring in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, and is further expanding its coverage to remote areas, including parts of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Previously, transaction interruptions occurred due to acquiring restrictions or failures in certain regions. These are now resolved, ensuring a consistent payment experience for travelers worldwide, regardless of their location.

Dispute rate reduced to 0.02%

Using the real-time monitoring, historical data backtesting, and custom rules of Radar for Fraud Teams, ByteSIM has reduced its transaction dispute rate to 0.02%, far below the credit card processing industry’s warning standard of 0.75%. By combining automated rule processing with manual review of high-risk transactions, ByteSIM effectively prevents fraud while ensuring payment security and conversion efficiency.

Significantly shorter settlement cycles improve liquidity

Stripe’s shorter settlement cycles help ByteSIM improve cash flow and support its simultaneous operation in and expansion across multiple global markets. This liquidity is vital as ByteSIM expands its offering in key regions.