MACAU, China, November 13 /PRNewswire/ --

    - Major Step Towards a Global Interoperable Mobile Payments System
    Over the next several months, 12 mobile operators will run trials of
contactless mobile payment services in Australia, France, Ireland, Korea,
Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.S.
as a precursor to commercial launches. The trials form part of the GSMA's
Pay-Buy- Mobile initiative, which is designed to provide a single global
approach to enabling contactless payments using a mobile phone. Consumers
will be able to use their handsets to quickly, easily and securely pay for
goods and services in shops, restaurants and train stations.
    The Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative supports the use of the Single Wire
Protocol, which was adopted by ETSI* as a standard in October 2007, to link
the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) contained within the mobile
handset with the phone's embedded Near Field Communications (NFC) chip. The
NFC chip can communicate with existing contactless payment systems to
deliver a wide range of secure, interoperable and transparent services,
such as credit and debit payments. There are 35 mobile operators with 1.3
billion customers participating in the initiative.
    In a global first, executives from Korean operator KTF have paid for
goods by passing their NFC-equipped handsets by contactless readers in
retail outlets in Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. in a trial involving real
transactions facilitated by MasterCard. For this trial, MasterCard's
Paypass application and Shinhan Bank's credit card application were
downloaded to a KTF UICC embedded in the mobile handsets, which were
provided by LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. The retail outlets at
the respective locations were equipped with readers that support the NFC
interface and accept MasterCard's Paypass applications, enabling real
transactions in three different countries.
    "Just nine months after this programme was launched in Barcelona, the
first pioneering mobile operators are preparing for the rollout of
commercial services that have the potential to become the foundation of a
global, interoperable mobile payment service," said Rob Conway, CEO of the
GSMA, the global trade association for mobile operators. "Mobile payment
services, which will enable transactions to be completed faster in shops,
restaurants and train stations, will also make it easier for merchants to
offer their customers precisely-targeted discounts and other promotional
offers."
    Both consumers and merchants see significant benefits from using the
mobile phone as a payment form factor at point of sale, according to
research carried out by Serrula on behalf of the GSMA. Two-thirds of the
2,574 consumers in 17 countries surveyed said that they expect to begin
using their mobile phone to pay at point of sale within two years of the
service becoming available. Moreover, 50% of the 240 merchants from 10
countries surveyed see promotional opportunities in using the mobile phone
as a payment device.
    Supporting Quotes
    "We are proud to be the first operator in the world to trial this
global payment scheme", said Young-Chu Cho, CEO of KTF, a leading HSPA
operator in Korea, "We have been working diligently to deliver more than
mobile values to our customers and NFC M-Payment is definitely a step
forward in realizing our vision."
    "By adopting the global standard, experiences and technology, we aim to
trigger our domestic NFC related industries to align with global standards
and develop more advanced services and products to energize the
telecommunications category. We are glad to join this global payment scheme
trial to demonstrate cross-border interoperability," said Mr. Jan Nilsson,
President of Far EasTone Telecommunications.
    "Australia is experiencing a wireless revolution with the highest
growth rates in the world. Telstra is working with one of the country's
leading banks and a global credit card provider to make it easier for
customers to pay for goods and services with their mobile phones with a
trial to begin early next year," said Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra.
    "In Europe, Orange is a pioneer in promoting high-scale trials in
association with a large number of banks, major financial institutions and
key MNOs to launch interoperable mobile contactless payment services," said
Mung- Ki Woo of Orange, VP Payment and Contactless. "Orange has announced
trials in the UK and a commercial launch in France in 2008, that will
include not only payment but also transport ticketing, football stadium
ticketing, and interactive billboards with key service partners."
    "AT&T was the first carrier in North America to participate in a large-
scale NFC contactless payments trial in 2005," said Mark Collins, VP of
Consumer Data Services at AT&T Mobility. "Even from our early efforts in
this space, we've seen the value of engaging a broad ecosystem to drive
standards and promote the adoption of mobile payment services. We are
excited to build on our early work in this space and to play a role in
establishing global standards for mobile payments"
    "Maxis' participation in GSMA's global Pay-Buy-Mobile trials is a
significant milestone in our overall Mobile Payment strategy, which we
launched as Maxis M-Money in early 2007," said Dr Nikolai Dobberstein, Head
of Products and New Businesses of Maxis Communications, Malaysia's largest
mobile telecommunications operator. "Maxis, currently the only Malaysian
mobile operator participating in the Pay-Buy-Mobile trial, has already
rolled out a number of mobile payment services, including Mobile
International Remittances. Maxis is also conducting trials for a hybrid
multi-payment mobile service for credit card and prepaid travel payments,
incorporating NFC technology."
    "SFR, a leading HSPA MNO in France, has already conducted several
trials in the field of mobile NFC services, focused both on transportation
ticketing and m-payment. SFR is also currently testing multi-applicative
NFC services in Strasbourg, combining a credit card payment application and
a transportation application that customers are able to use in the trams
and buses," said Mireille Poggi, Mobile Payment & M-Commerce Marketing
Manager of SFR. "As we believe strongly that interoperability will be key
regarding mobile NFC acceptance by customers and service providers, SFR is
in the meantime an active member of Pegasus, a global French initiative,
including both major MNOs and banks, aiming at defining an interoperable
setup in payment."
    "The popularity of MasterCard PayPass, coupled with the widespread use
of wireless technology has created many payment opportunities far beyond
that of the simple swipe of a card," said Shuan Ghaidan, Head of Product
Sales and Delivery, Asia/Pacific MasterCard Worldwide. "This new NFC-based
KTF mobile payment phone shows innovative use of the latest technology to
increase convenience by giving consumers the ability to use their mobile
phones to make contactless payments anywhere around the world where PayPass
is accepted. MasterCard is pleased to contribute to the establishment of
global standards that will help push the mobile payment market to the
critical mass level."
    Notes to Editors:
    The 12 operators running trials include AT&T, Far EasTone, Orange, KTF,
Maxis, SFR, SingTel, Telstra and Turkcell.
    *The GSMA has contributed to the adoption of mobile NFC standards by
the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and is working
with other industry groups, such as the NFC Forum and the Mobey Forum, to
secure agreement around a single global approach for enabling mobile
payments.
    The GSMA is about to publish two white papers on http://www.gsmworld.com , one
of which sets out several business models that can support a mobile payment
service and one of which sets out version two of the GSMA's technical
guidelines for NFC.
    The Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative builds on the infrastructure of the major
credit card companies, which have developed specifications to ensure global
interoperability between contactless chip cards and point of sale
terminals, regardless of manufacturer, the financial institution and
location of transaction.
    The GSMA is working closely with leading financial intermediaries and
banks to promote globally interoperable transaction solutions. Both
MasterCard and VISA are supporting the trials with their PayPass and Visa
payWave features respectively, that enable NFC-equipped phones to effect
payment transactions at secure contactless point of sale terminals.
    LG, Motorola, Nokia, Sagem and Samsung are among the handset makers
developing phones for NFC-enabled mobile payment services.
    Gemalto, G&D and KEBT are among the UICC card suppliers supporting NFC-
enabled mobile payment services.
    Vivotech and Harex are among the companies developing NFC-enabled
readers that support NFC-enabled mobile payment services.
    About the GSM Association:
    The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing
700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries of the world. In
addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the
Association's initiatives as key partners.
    The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless
services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to
individual customers and national economies, while creating new business
opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members
serve more than 2.5 billion customers - 85% of the world's mobile phone
users.

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