Portugal Telecom employees are piloting a mobile wallet service that enables them to make contactless, SMS, USSD and QR Code-based payments with any handset.
The telco is opening up the tmn wallet trial to its entire 11,000-strong workforce, offering participants the chance to make mobile payments at canteens and vending machines in several offices.
Those taking part register for the service at a dedicated web site and create a virtual wallet funded through PayPal or a credit, ATM or MB Phone card. They then download an iPhone or Android app or use a mobile Web site.
Once registered, pilot participants can make payments using four methods:
- Users with NFC-enabled phones can pay by tapping their handset against terminal readers
- Customers can also use their handset to take a photo of a QR code on the terminal screen
- They can send a free text message to receive a code that is entered into the terminal
- Or, using USSD (unstructured supplementary service data), enter a code generated by the terminal into their phone.
Tiago Silva Lopes, head, direction of multi-platform data and content department, Portugal Telecom, says: "This is a very important project because it will help us gain a better understanding of the technology that has been appearing on the market, including NFC, and of how people interact with these new technologies and with the possibility to pay via mobile phone."