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News in-depth: Mobile payments become reality for 93m Europeans
3 Jul 2012

Deutsche Telekom and MasterCard announced yesterday (July 2nd) that they have formed a partnership that will bring mobile payment technology to the phone operator's 93 million customers.

Through their new partnership the two companies plan to roll out mobile payments across the Deutsche Telekom networks, starting this year in Poland.

Following this the two organisations will launch a trial among German customers which will use both near field communication (NFC) tags stuck to users' mobiles as well as NFC-enabled cards – before a full-scale mobile wallet service is introduced to the country.

Other European markets are also set to follow suit.

The agreement marks one of the biggest deals announced so far in the rapid international expansion of mobile payments, which has quickly become one of the fastest growing consumer services to emerge in the last few years.

The telecoms provider has also revealed that it will distribute MasterCard payment products through its ClickandBuy subsidiary company which holds an e-money licence.

Deutsche Telekom's chief product and innovation officer Thomas Kiessling believes that the partnership will be a major step forwards for mobile payments.

"With MasterCard we have a well-known and experienced partner generating growth in this important market segment," he said. "We want to build a comprehensive ecosystem around mobile payment."

Ann Cairns, president of international markets at MasterCard Worldwide, commented that the payments industry appears "ripe for innovation" as there is an increasing acceleration towards a cashless society.

"MasterCard's heritage is rooted in the creation of open technology, designed for everyone wanting to benefit from a more convenient and secure shopping experience," she added.

Ms Cairns revealed that the new mobile wallet will be open technology available to other banks and partners.

The mobile wallet will operate through users' SIM cards and MasterCard says it will not only offer convenience and speed but will also be entirely secure and transparent as users will confirm transactions through text message.