GSM Association Aims for Global Point of Sale Purchases by Mobile Phone

GSM Association Aims for Global Point of Sale Purchases by Mobile Phone

February 13, 2007

Fourteen Operators Join Initiative to Develop Global Mobile
Payment Enabled by Contactless/NFC Technology

    BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 13 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The
worldwide use of mobile phones for payments at point of
sale is the aim of a new initiative announced today by the
GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade organization for
mobile operators.
    The 'Pay-Buy Mobile' initiative is a natural
progression for the industry, following the GSMA's program
- announced last year - to define a common global approach
to enabling Near Field Communications (NFC), the technology
used to link mobile devices with payment and contactless
systems. By embedding mobile contactless services, such as
credit and debit payments, in the SIM card the mobile
industry will extend the role of mobile phones in
customers' everyday lives.

    Fourteen mobile operators are participating in the
'Pay-Buy Mobile' initiative, which seeks to define a common
global experience for mobile phone payments, on which
seamlessly interoperable services will be provided.

    The fourteen operators, representing more than 900
million mobile users, are Cingular Wireless, now part of
the new AT&T; China Mobile; KALL; KTF; MCI; MTN; NTT
DoCoMo; Rogers Wireless; Smart Communications; Telenor,
TeliaSonera; Telecom Italia; Turkcell, and Vimpelcom.

    "The mobile phone is now becoming an essential
life management tool for mobile users," said Rob
Conway, CEO of the GSM Association. "By bringing
payment capability into the device, users will benefit from
the ability to purchase items in a secure and convenient way
from the comfort of their own mobile phones, hailing an end
to bulky wallets full of notes and coins."

    Whilst various forms of mobile payment trials and
services have been announced, this is the first truly
global approach to facilitate payment by mobile. Secure,
transparent mobile payments will be made using a
SIM/Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) card in mobile
phones plus contactless/NFC technology. The result will be
an interoperable and transparent service for mobile
customers, financials institutions and the banks.

    This approach will further accelerate the efforts of
the major credit card companies, which developed the
specifications to ensure global interoperability between
chip cards and Point of Sales (POS) terminals, regardless
of manufacturer, the financial institution and location of
transaction. The GSMA intends to work closely with leading
financial intermediaries to provide the transaction
solutions.

    The first phase of the GSMA initiative will begin with
a business model analysis followed by an end-to-end trial
in Korea later this year. The trial will be led by KTF and
will include all key participants in the value chain, from
banks and credit card providers to retail organizations and
handset manufacturers. LG Electronics will provide handsets
for this initial trial in Korea. KTF will share the results
of its trial with the GSMA's operator community as part of
the program. Following this, similar trials will be
deployed involving other operators and financial
institutions.

    Mobile phone based transactions are already becoming
commonplace in South Korea, where there are already more
than 12 million mobile payment enabled handsets in
circulation, with 80,000 terminal payment machines in
shops, restaurants and cafes.

    "We are delighted to work with the GSM Association
through our sponsoring and leading of the M-Payment project
and a trial in Korea that will help to define and shape the
environment for M-Payments using contactless technology in
the international mobile community," said Dr Young-Chu
Cho, CEO of KTF.

    "By combining credit/debit card technology with
the security level represented by a SIM card and Near Field
Communications technology, we can make it really easy to use
a mobile phone as a payment device", said Stein Hansen,
Head of Group Technology at Telenor and Chairman of the
GSMA's Executive Management Committee. "Through our
experience from several years of running commercial mobile
payments solutions, we know the value of offering services
that are easily accessible. The GSMA Pay-Buy Mobile
Initiative can create a new global standard for POS
payments. Telenor is eager to support the GSMA in the
development of future mobile payment standards."

    "This GSMA initiative is both timely and
critical," noted Kris Rinne, Senior Vice President -
Architecture & Planning at Cingular Wireless, part of
the new AT&T. "Mobile Financial Services are
poised to grow quickly and to provide substantial value to
wireless subscribers, financial services providers,
merchants and wireless operators. We are delighted to be a
part of this initiative."

    "Contactless technology will be the natural way
for payments in the near future. Through this initiative
the GSMA is leading the path for the implementation of a
sustainable business model, including all stakeholders in
the contactless payment value chain, and starting the
development of innovative mobile payment services,"
said Cenk Serdar, Turkcell's Chief Value Added Services
Officer.

    "MasterCard has long recognized the global
opportunity presented by mobile commerce," said Art
Kranzley, group executive, Advanced Payments, MasterCard
Worldwide. "The mobile phone has become a ubiquitous
and highly functional device, serving consumer needs well
beyond making and receiving calls. Making simple everyday
payments with it represents a natural next step, and
MasterCard is proud to help make this possible."

    "Mobiles phone will connect the service and the
end-user," said Dr. Woo-Young Kwak Vice President of
LG Electronics Mobile Handset R&D Center. "It is a
real pleasure to contribute to the 'Pay by Mobile'
initiative by providing LG Electronics' mobile phones for
the trial."

    About the GSM Association: http://www.gsmworld.com


    For more information, please contact:

     Mark Smith or David Pringle
     GSM Association
     Tel:   [phone], or [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 


SOURCE  The GSM Association