Telcos team up to promote mobile payment technology
Top managers from Hungary's three mobile communications service providers held a joint press conference on Monday in a rare display of solidarity to promote the use of near field communication (NFC) to facilitate mobile payments.
Mobile payment presents a giant business opportunity, Magyar Telekom chairman-CEO Christopher Mattheisen said at the press conference organized by the Mobile Wallet Association, established to spread NFC technology. The mobile telecommunications sector will have the best chance if mobile companies team up with banks, he added.
The technology for mobile payment must be uniform, said Győző Drozdy, advisor to the CEO of Telenor Magyarország. Service providers should compete for subscribers; they should not compete in the area of mobile payment, he added.
Vodafone Magyarország chairman György Beck said the cooperation of the companies to make mobile payments more widespread was no small thing. The three companies formed a partnership in 2009 to make mobile payment for parking easier, and today every other parking fee is paid by phone, he added.
Representatives of Szupershop and MasterCard said they expected the number of points of sale where mobile payment is accepted to see a boom next year.
OTP Bank deputy-CEO Antal Kovacs said OTP is working hard to see the number of NFC terminals grows and predicted the technology would expand faster than expected by many.
ADVERTISEMENT
E-scooters More Popular Than Bikes at eMag
Parliament Negates Mandatory Membership in MOK
SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
