NFC mobile payment is gaining traction in China, with China Telecom, the country’s No. 3 mobile carrier, announcing a nationwide launch of a mobile wallet service using the technology.
China Telecom last Thursday officially launched the "E-Surfing Mobile Wallet" service in cooperation with more than 10 banks, including Bank of China, The Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Merchants Bank.
The service enables customers to pay transportation, dining, shopping, speed check-in at airports and authenticate their identities with a NFC-compatible smartphone. China Telecom is set to start offering the service on December 23.
Customers with a NFC-compatible smartphone can get a free SIM card that supports NFC at the CDMA operator’s service centers from December 23.
China Telecom has set an ambitious goal for the project with plans to release 30 million UIM cards and introduce more than 40 models of handsets that support the mobile wallet service next year.
Starting in January 2014, China Telecom’s customized 3G handsets will support NFC, while the technology will come as a standard with all its 4G handset line-up, the operator said.
China Telecom is the last mobile carrier in the country to jump on the NFC mobile payment bandwagon. Bigger rivals China Mobile and China Unicom have already launched NFC contactless payment services in June and September, respectively.
Bank of China exectuive vice president Zhu Shumin (left), China Telecom Group Yang Jie general manager (middle), and Li Xiaofeng, head of the Financial IC Cards Work Group at the The People’s Bank of China(right) jointly launched the "E-Surfing Mobile Wallet" service
Source: China Telecom