Wireless Carriers Roll Out mPayment Products

• Wireless carriers are positioning themselves in European markets with individual wallet and NFC solutions

• Cooperations and roll-outs point to a market offensive by telecommunications firms in 2012

• Vodafone and VISA sign a deal on worldwide cooperation

• A1 rolls out its own NFC/based solution with paybox NFC in Austria

• O2 launches its own O2-Wallet in Great Britain, NFC-solution is to follow later this year

Source: electricpig

Wireless carriers are currently situated at an interface between various services and products. They sell smartphones, possess differentiated access to customers, and provide an important part of the technical infrastructure in their role as network operators and issuers of SIM cards. The latest product launches and announcements show that wireless carriers are using this departure point in order to present their own products and services on the mPayment market.

At the Mobile World Congress in early March 2012, Vodafone and VISA announced their plans to cooperate on a worldwide scale. The global position of both companies enables them to jointly offer mobile payment solutions to their 398 million customers in over 30 countries.

At the end of April, VISA also announced that it would launch its v.me wallet in Great Britain, Spain and France in 2012. The goal is to provide the entire portfolio of payment transactions under the umbrella of v.me. The implementation of the corresponding service suite will occur in conjunction with technology and business partners.

In Austria, the largest mobile phone carrier, A1, has long been active in the market for mobile payment options. While its customers have already been able to use mobile phones to pay for transport tickets, taxi rides, parking fees, and to transfer money to friends, A1 has now introduced its own NFC-based solution for mobile payments. The pilot phase of this project began in April. 500 test customers can now use paybox NFC at select McDonalds and MERKUR locations. The test customers are given a sticker in order to enable their smartphones to engage in NFC transactions. In the future, A1 plans that both NFC stickers and NFC SIM cards as well as a range of smartphones will be supported by the payment system.

In April, O₂ also introduced a digital wallet, starting in Great Britain. The service spectrum includes the possibility of transferring money via telephone, downloading product information via mobile phone, and the use of the O₂Money Account Card. Customers can use this card, provided in cooperation with VISA, to make purchases online. The card can also be provided in physical form if necessary. Using “My Offers”, wallet customers can obtain up to date information about products, special deals and discounts. The “Money Message” application allows customers to send money to any British mobile phone account. As yet the O₂ Wallet does not possess an NFC function, but the company has announced that it will integrate this functionality later in 2012.

These developments strongly point to the fact that wireless carriers, together with credit card organizations, are delivering on their promises in 2012. They are fortifying their positions within the field of mobile payments by rolling out wallet and NFC solutions.

Vodafone and VISA

http://nfctimes.com/blog/dan-balaban/message-mwc-nfc-opening-payments-space-new-players

http://www.derhandel.de/news/technik/pages/Visa-und-Vodafone-kooperieren-fuer-Handyzahlungen-8321.html

VISA v.me

http://www.visaeurope.com/en/newsroom/news/articles/2012/vme_launch_date_announced.aspx?lang=en-gb

A1 paybox NFC

http://nfctimes.com/project/austria-telco-launch-nfc-payment-scheme-bypassing-major-banks-card-networks

http://www.paybox.at/7377/Privat/Produkte–Tarife/paybox-NFC

O2-Wallet

http://nfctimes.com/news/telef-nica-uk-launches-o2-wallet-promises-nfc-later-2012

http://www.o2.co.uk/money/wallet