Telefónica O2 Ireland has launched a new prepaid money card, ‘O2 Money’, marking an expansion by the mobile network operator into the Irish financial services market.

O2 Money, already in operation in the UK, has been developed by O2 Ireland in conjunction with 3V Transaction Services, an Irish payments company.

O2 Ireland’s new CEO, Stephen Shurrock, said: “Today’s launch marks a major milestone for O2 in Ireland. With an existing pre-pay mobile customer base of one million, O2 is highly experienced in the provision of prepay services and the introduction of a prepay money card is a natural and exciting progression for us.

“This first financial services product from O2 marks the start of the convergence of the mobile phone and the wallet, and firmly positions us at the forefront of this trend in Ireland,” he added.

Last month, Telefónica joined with many of the world’s largest mobile network operators to commit to launching commercial NFC services by 2012. In the UK, O2 has committed to launching commercial NFC services in the second half of this year. Orange and Barclaycard also plan to launch NFC services in the UK this year.

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