Norwegian operator Telenor Mobil has joined with Visa to offer m-commerce solutions to its subscribers.
The deal means that Visa cardholders will be able to sign up to Telenor’s MobilHandel service and use their credit card as a means of payment.
According to Telenor Mobil’s spokesman Sigurd Sandvin, there are currently 170,000 registered users of the MobilHandel service in Norway. Sandvin told BWCS: “Customers can add Smartcash to the their handsets up to a limit of around £80, or, through a more complex system, they can link their phones directly to their bank account and use unlimited funds – well limited only by the amount they have in their account. Now with the Visa deal, they take five minutes or so to sign up all the required details and they can pay using Visa.”
MobilHandel uses a PKI security system, can be used to purchase cinema tickets, flowers, bus and metro tickets and mineral water in Norway. They can also use their mobile phones at some parking facilities in Oslo. So far MobilHandel users will be restricted to using Visa to pay for the same range of goods and services that are currently on offer. Whilst it is believed that Visa will add point of sale terminals at restaurants and bars which will be able to read card data from mobile handsets, this is still some way off.
Telenor Mobil had just over 2.4 million mobile customers in the third quarter of last year, while Visa reports that it has some 3.4 million cardholders in Norway.
