Canadian mobile operators ‘plan to introduce NFC or contactless handsets within the year’

EnStream, the joint venture between Canada’s three leading mobile operators which operates the Zoompass mobile wallet service, aims to offer NFC or contactless enabled handsets to customers within the year, the company has told NFC World.

Launched by Bell Mobility, Rogers and Telus in June 2009, customers can currently load funds into their Zoompass account via their bank account or credit card and then use their phone to send and receive money, including between friends and family, check their balance and review their transaction history.

Zoompass customers can also apply for a Zoompass Prepaid MasterCard, issued by Peoples Trust. This lets them make purchases at any MasterCard-accepting merchant and have the cost of the transaction automatically debited from their Zoompass account.

EnStream added support for Android devices to Zoompass this week and, the company told NFC World, “Zoompass registrations are rising month over month especially among smartphone users due to the integrated, rich and intuitive user experience offered by the Zoompass application.”

“Secondly the product is naturally gaining traction among registrants who are sending and requesting money from friends and family members, resulting in an enlargement of Zoompass’ universe of users,” Enstream continues. “We are also seeing strong usage of the Zoompass Prepaid MasterCard at retail stores where Zoompass users are able to purchase services using money in their Zoompass account.”

“The ultimate goal is to allow Zoompass users to transact with their mobile phone at point of sale with NFC enabled handsets or contactless enabled handsets – we’re looking at providing this to Zoompass users within the year.”

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