Singapore's Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets) is teaming with telco SingTel and three of the island's biggest banks to launch a consumer trial of NFC-enabled wireless wallet technology.
Nets says participants of the public pilot, which will follow a staff trial later this year, will download an mNets e-wallet application to their phones, which can store up to S$500 and can be topped up with up to S$40 per day by phone, using a pre-registered credit card that has been issued by Singaporean banks DBS, OCBC or UOB.
Customers can then use the stored fund to pay for purchases by tapping their mobile phone against specially-equipped terminals.
The NFC technology and OTA applications used in the service are developed by ViVOtech.
Quek Peck Leng, SingTel's EVP of consumer business and CEO of SingTel Mobile, says: "NFC technology on a mobile device brings a total new dimension to how mobile customers use their handsets and will improve customer experience at point of sale."
"Our vision is to enable as many applications as possible onto the mobile wallet and we are working towards implementing mobile NFC for security card access, loyalty cards, redemption of mobile or merchant coupons and storing of contact details," he says.
Nets says it anticipates that three out of ten mobile phones will be NFC-compatible in 2012 and it is working on developing new mobile applications including an SMS-based electronic coupons service for loading discounts and freebies.
Nets says it also aims provide an m-ticketing system for transport based on the mNets application by 2010.