S$20m
set aside for mobile
payment trials
- By Anand Menon
SINGAPORE - The Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore
(IDA) and various industry players will be spending about S$20 million
(US$11 million) on mobile payment solutions trials in the Republic.
The
trials--on direct debit payment, stored-value and credit card solutions--are
expected to run from the first quarter of 2002 to the end of August
2002, and will involve at least 10,000 mobile users here.
Between
S$7 million and S$12 million of the total investment will come from
IDA's S$200 million Wired With Wireless program, and the rest from
industry players involved in the trials, a statement said.
According
to IDA chief executive Yong Ying-I, the development of a mobile
payment infrastructure will help stimulate the entire mobile commerce
ecosystem.
"The
mobile payment infrastructure will enable revenue generation, which
is necessary if we are to see compelling applications and services
from merchants and service providers," said Yong. She was speaking
at a Call for Collaboration (CFC) media conference today.
The
CFC is an IDA-led program designed to encourage collaboration among
industry players, including telecommunication companies, banks and
application providers, to provide an open platform to meet mobile
payment solutions needs.
Four consortia for trials
Four consortia have been selected to test run the mobile solutions.
They are:
Consortium 1:
National Computer Systems Pte Ltd, Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte
Ltd, StarHub Pte Ltd, MobileOne (Asia) Pte Ltd, Visa International,
Eng Wah Organization, Diethelm Singapore Pte Ltd, National Library
Board, the National University of Singapore, Network for Electronic
Transfers (NETS) and the Development Bank of Singapore;
Consortium 2:
Nokia, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) and the Development
Bank of Singapore;
Consortium 3:
Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd, Citibank NA, BCS Information
Systems, WizVision.com Pte Ltd, mVent, Green Dot Capital Pte Ltd,
Premas International, CET Technologies Pte Ltd, Sun Microsystems,
Cathay Organization Holdings Ltd, CalendarOne, National Service
Resort & Country Club, StarHub Pte Ltd, MasterCard International
and mPayment Pte Ltd;
Consortium 4:
Systems@Work, Hewlett-Packard's Mobile e-Services Bazaar, Gemplus,
Suntec City and Visa International.
The selection process was based on each consortium's "end-to-end
solution, a valid proposition for the consumer and the export potential
of the proposed solution," noted Center for Wireless Communications
director Lye Kin Mun in the statement.
The National Computer Systems-led consortium, for example, will
offer customers the chance to pay using a NETS virtual card or credit
card via short messaging service (SMS) and wireless application
protocol (WAP).
Some of the expected mobile services include carpark and movie payments.
The consortium hopes to roll out its mobile payment solutions trial
services next May.
Separately, IDA's Yong also announced two new CFCs for wireless
development--one on Mobile Workforce Solutions and the other on
Wireless Java Solutions.
The former hopes to encourage the use of wireless technologies to
enhance business competitiveness. The latter will put in place a
test bed for Java application developers, together with the Java
Wireless Competency Center formed between Sun Microsystems and the
Center for Wireless Communications, said Yong.
SOURCE
: CNET / Zdnet Asia , 16 Oct 2001, Pg 8
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