Deutsche Telekom Teams with MasterCard in Mobile Payment Application
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has partnered with MasterCard to offer a mobile payments platform to facilitate mobile payments for its 93 million mobile customers across Europe. The two companies said they aim to “build a comprehensive ecosystem around mobile payment”.
The mobile operator will launch its first mobile payment service in Poland later this year, while German consumers will be offered a mobile payments facility starting with the trial of mobile phone tags and cards. The roll-out will continue into the first half of 2013 with a mobile wallet service, which will also be open to other issuing banks and partners. Deutsche Telekom will issue the MasterCard products through its subsidiary company ClickandBuy, which owns an e-money licence.
Deutsche Telekom’s chief product and innovation officer, Thomas Kiessling, confirmed that the group was also in discussions with Google, credit card companies and banks as potential additional partners for its mobile payments system. He added that many banks and software companies were working on their own offerings and between 50 and 60 different mobile wallets were entering the market although no more than three or four platforms were likely to survive.
“The payment space continues to be ripe for innovation, particularly at a time when we’re seeing an accelerating movement away from cash – driven by technology,” said Ann Cairns, president of international markets for MasterCard Worldwide.