O2 UK picks suppliers for NFC mobile wallet launch

Mobile network operator O2 UK, part of the Telefonica group, has announced Wave Crest, FIS, Intelligent Environments and Visa Europe as the suppliers for the mobile wallet service it plans to launch during the second half of 2011.

O2

“Capabilities planned for the wallet include m-commerce, airtime top ups, contactless/NFC payments and peer-to-peer payments,” says O2. “Although the service will launch solely under the O2 Money brand, O2 will be working with a number of leading technical and financial services specialists to ensure the best possible customer experience.

“In the coming months O2 will also re-launch its successful prepaid Visa card product with contactless capabilities. The new O2 Money prepaid cards will also operate on the platform and systems provided by these new partners. Existing O2 Money customers will be given the opportunity to be migrated to the new platform and be issued the new contactless prepaid cards.”

The roles of the four suppliers will be:

  • E-payments provider Wave Crest will provide and operate the core banking platform upon which the new prepaid card and mobile wallet services will run. “Wave Crest’s eMoney platform is a flexible and highly integrated service, ideally suited for prepaid and stored value financial services products,” says O2. “Wave Crest will also manage the security and online customer experience.”
  • FIS, the world’s largest provider of banking and payments technology, will provide transaction processing and UK-based customer service for both the prepaid cards and mobile wallet.
  • Digital banking provider Intelligent Environments will develop a wallet application which “will be compatible with a wide range of mobile devices”.
  • Visa Europe will be the payment network for the wallet and the new prepaid products.

“These partnerships take us another step closer to the launch of commercial mobile wallet services,” said James Le Brocq, O2 UK’s managing director for financial services. “We are working with the best partners in their respective fields to bring a high quality service to market under the O2 Money banner. We look forward to unveiling additional partners in the coming months.”

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