Visa cardholders and merchants in Norway are being invited to join the MobilHandel m-commerce system from Telenor Mobile under a new co-operation agreement between the payment card outfit and mobile operator.
As part of the pact, Visa cards are to be made available as an approved form of payment over the MobilHandel system, which currently operates via SMS messaging and the Web.
MobilHandel can already be used for purchasing goods and services, like cinema tickets, flowers, parking, public transport, and ski lift tickets. Following the agreement with Visa Norge, the system will be expanded to include a wider array of merchants and payment opportunites. Cardholder authentication and data transfer is effected under a mobile PKI system.
Visa currently claims 3.4 million cards in circulation in Norway, while Telenor Mobile had 2.4 million subscribers as of third quarter 2003.