| June
1 2002
Sprint to be founding member of standards
and marketing entity for mobile payments network, with eONE Global seeking
additional partners for developing the network.
Sprint and eONE Global, a developer of
emerging payment technologies and an affiliate of electronic payments leader
First Data Corp., yesterday announced that they signed a letter of intent
setting forth plans to establish a mobile payments network in the United
States to enable consumers to make purchases and payments with their
wireless devices.
Sprint, which will be the founding member of
a standards and marketing entity for the mobile payments network, and eONE
Global will actively seek other U.S. operators to join them in developing
this mobile payments network.
This news comes just weeks after an
announcement by Europe's largest mobile operators, which outlined similar
intentions to launch an interoperable mobile payments platform and whom also
are working with eONE Global.
Sprint and eONE Global will provide a trusted
end-to-end purchase and payment experience that is convenient, secure, and
user-friendly for both consumers and merchants. The companies believe that a
secure and easy-to-use payment solution for the purchase of goods and
services via a mobile device will be a key driver for consumer and merchant
adoption of the mobile payment system in the U.S.
Wireless customers will simply store their
personal details and preferred payment options -- including credit cards,
debit cards and stored value accounts -- in a virtual wallet, and choose
which payment method to use when making payments via their mobile phone,
similar to undertaking a transaction from a conventional wallet.
"Sprint applauds the efforts of eONE
Global to launch an interoperable payments platform in Europe," said
Charles E. Levine, president of Sprint's PCS division. "We are pleased
to be working with eONE Global and First Data on launching the first
interoperable mobile payments network in the U.S. and are committed to
making it a success."
"Mobile operators are in a great
position to establish a standard for mobile payments given their consumer
relationships," said Garen Staglin, President and CEO of eONE Global.
"We believe the timing is right to invest in building this network with
Sprint and other mobile operators with the goal of accelerating mCommerce in
the U.S."
eONE Global's subsidiary, Encorus
Technologies Limited, will supply the underlying technology for the open
standard platform including multiple channel access, authentication, routing
and settlement of transactions, while at the same time leveraging First
Data's processing scale. First Data currently provides payment processing
for 2.8 million merchant locations worldwide. Sprint and eONE Global expect
Encorus to provide the U.S. mobile payment network with its PaymentWorks
mobile payment software, which is an open standard, and is currently being
rolled out across several mobile network operators in Europe.
Both Sprint and eONE Global envision a
gradual migration of mobile payment applications starting with
micro-payments for mobile Internet purchases and retail micro-payments, and
eventually macro-payments at the point-of-sale. The solution will provide
for multiple payment options, including traditional credit and debit cards.
In addition, smaller purchases may be billed direct to a customer's
telephone bill, to a stored value account presented by the operators, or to
other new micro-payment alternatives.
"Mobile payments is an area of
significant untapped opportunity --- not just in market building or
cost-of-service reduction, but particularly in creation of profitable
partnerships that leverage the expertise of both carriers and financial
institutions," said Edward Kountz, senior analyst of the mobile
financial strategies practice at TowerGroup. "The single greatest
catalyst for this process lies in the creation of interoperable, standards-
based platform solutions that enable a variety of payments, across multiple
operators and geographies."
TowerGroup predicts that the number of mobile
premium content customers will continue to rise rapidly, reaching 118
million users in Western Europe in 2005, 145 million users in Asia-Pacific,
and 22 million users in North America. It is estimated the total value of
the mobile digital premium content market will rise from just over $2
billion in 2001 to $48.51 billion in 2005.
.
|
