Telefónica picks Visa for mobile payments in Europe

Telefónica Digital has appointed Visa Europe as its preferred mobile payments partner for its O2 and Movistar networks in Europe in a deal described as “a wide ranging strategic partnership to drive new business opportunities within mobile commerce.”

Visa and Telefonica

The deal will see Telefónica issuing Visa branded payments cards and will also involve the two companies investing in the development of products and services in the mobile wallet, NFC contactless payments, merchant offers and acquirer services markets.

“Visa has been an important partner for a number of years in Europe, helping us to trial, test and ultimately launch mobile payments products,” says Joaquin Mata, Telefónica Digital’s director of financial services. “This market has enormous untapped potential and through this partnership with Visa Europe we aim to unlock significant new business opportunities.”

Visa already has a similar deal with Vodafone while Telefónica signed a joint venture deal with MasterCard for its Latin American holdings in 2011. Last week, Deutsche Telekom announced that it had picked MasterCard for its move into the European mobile payments market.

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions