Visa has put together a Malaysian partnership that includes a bank, a cell phone manufacturer and a mobile phone carrier to launch its first commercial mobile payments service using NFC technology. Consumers are now able to purchase an NFC-enabled mobile phone off the shelf and use it to make Visa payWave-enabled transactions at the point-of-sale in place of their credit card.
Maxis, Malaysia’s largest wireless carrier with more than 11 million subscribers, handset manufacturer Nokia and Maybank, are the other partners.
The service enables Maybank Visa account holders to wave their NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic handset in front of a contactless reader to complete a secure Visa transaction. Maybank Visa account holders can download their Visa payWave credit account details directly to their Nokia handset over the Maxis wireless network. Once the account has been personalized on the phone, account holders can then begin to make purchases at any one of the 1,800 merchant outlets that accept Visa payWave in Malaysia.
The contactless chip embedded in the phone also powers several other functions, including a transit application that enables Malaysian commuters to pay for charges while using metropolitan transit systems, bus terminals, highway toll gates and car park facilities at more than 3,000 contactless payment touch points throughout Malaysia. Maxis has branded these mobile payment services under the name Maxis FastTap.
“We believe that Visa’s NFC mobile payment launch in Malaysia signals a tipping point for the payments industry globally as we move from mobile payment pilots to commercial availability,” said Elizabeth Buse, Visa’s Global Head of Product. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/nfcnews-4.gif)
