MasterCard, Deutsche Telekom push mobile payments in Europe
updated 02:30 pm EDT, Mon July 2, 2012
Initial roll-out in Poland this year, Germany to follow
MasterCard and Deutsche Telekom will enable smartphone payments in Germany and Poland in the near future. Near Field Communication-based payments will be pushed through to T-Mobile customers in Poland by Q3 and to Germany by 2013, ahead of a potential rollout in other European regions.
At the same time as the consumer debut in Poland this year, T-Mobile will be performing trials for mobile payments in Germany using both mobile phone tags and NFC. Early next year, it will be expanded to to a full mobile wallet service, opening to other issuing banks and partners. Deutsche Telekom will be issuing the MasterCard products via e-commerce subsidiary ClickandBuy.
Mobile payments are starting to gain a foothold in Europe. The UK is expected to benefit from O2, Vodafone, and Everything Everywhere teaming up for cross-platform mobile wallet services, and the ongoing advertising campaigns by Barclays for its contactless-payment credit card and Paytag sticker system is believed to be providing a boost to mobile payment adoption.
