Bank of America launches NFC m-payment trial for BlackBerry users (USA)
Bank of America, US financial services provider is planning to invite BlackBerry users to try a mobile payment program powered by NFC chips. The project is scheduled for launch in Spring. Trial participants need either a Visa debit card or a MasterCard credit card through Bank of America.
The trial targets BlackBerry Curve 8520, 8530, Tour 9630, Bold 9000, 9650 and 9700 handsets users. Customers who opt to participate in the trial program will receive an NFC-enabled battery cover and a microSD memory card.
Visa Mobile Contactless Payments Solution Certified for Commercial Use
Visa Inc. and Visa Europe today announced the commercial availability of mobile contactless payments enabled by DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD solution. For the first time in Visa’s history, a mobile contactless payment solution is now included in the list of Visa compliant products available for potential commercial deployment by financial institutions in the U.S. and select markets.
Mobile payments are a strategic priority for Visa in Europe where we have played a leadership role in developing the marketâ€
Following 18 months of technology development in partnership with Texas-based DeviceFidelity, and trials with leading financial institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia, Visa has tested and supports commercialization of In2Pay microSD for use with leading smart phones.
Smartphone models compatible for use with this landmark technology include the BlackBerry® BoldTM 96502, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and the Android based Samsung Vibrant Galaxy 5, representing three of the leading mobile operating systems in the world. Visa expects to add additional phone models for use with this technology, including phones based on the Symbian and Windows operating systems.
This is a historic milestone for Visa and its clients,†said Bill Gajda, head of Visa Mobile. In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their account holders a new technology that enables them to transform their existing phones into fully functional mobile payment devices.â€
From Trials to Commercial Availability
The compliance testing process for mobile devices established by Visa includes extensive technical, security and usability testing with respect to the Visa mobile payment functionality. It ensures reliable and secure Visa transactions that are compatible with the global standard for chip-enabled payments, and establishes a required signal range for all mobile contactless payments. Visa’s compliance testing process ensures the combination of the phone; secure chip and mobile payment application will provide the level of user experience Visa accountholders have come to expect from Visa.
The microSD payment technology has been developed in partnership with DeviceFidelity and had previously been available only to financial institutions who were participating with Visa in mobile payment trials including some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo Bank, US Bancorp and Bank of America. Now, Visa issuers can obtain the technology under Visa’s standard contract terms and can load the Visa mobile payment application to microSD cards.
Issuers who choose to adopt the technology can provide their account holders with a tiny microSD card that can be inserted into the phone’s existing memory slot to enable the device for payment. The technology is compatible with existing contactless payment terminals already installed at retail outlets worldwide and enables account holders to simply hold the phone in front a payment terminal in order to pay.
This technology also opens the way for mobile operators, retailers and other stakeholders in the payments ecosystem to partner with financial institutions to bring Visa mobile payment functionality to consumers.
This is a significant step towards the next generation of payments, loyalty and rewards, allowing banks and retailers to build entirely new business models,†said Nick Holland, Senior Analyst with Yankee Group. Visa’s announcement clearly illustrates that the future of payments will be mobile.â€
Financial Institutions have the option to integrate Visa’s mobile payment solution into their existing mobile application, and offer additional services such as Visa transaction alerts that notify account holders in near real-time of account activity, and targeted merchant offers that are tailored to consumer lifestyle and location. Together, these services have the potential to enhance the consumer payment experience and allow account holders to better manage their payment accounts.
â€This is a win-win for banks, merchants, wireless carriers, handset makers, app developers and consumers alike as it delivers a unique combination of consumer preferred devices, smart chip based security and application driven innovation, something that the NFC ecosystem has aspired for a long time,†said Deepak Jain, President and CEO of DeviceFidelity, Inc. Working with Visa and its financial institution partners, we are excited to be at the forefront of this important milestone and helping to make mobile payments a reality for consumers.â€
With nearly 5 billion mobile handsets in market around the globe, consumers everywhere have come to rely on their mobile phone as a part of everyday life. According to IDC3, smart phone shipments globally are expected to increase 24% in 2011, helping drive continued growth in more robust and powerful mobile devices that are capable of supporting contactless payment.
“Mobile payments are a strategic priority for Visa in Europe where we have played a leadership role in developing the market,” commented Sandra Alzetta, Head of Innovation at Visa Europe. ”We are delighted that the hard work we’ve invested in market trials has paid off. With this milestone, we can help our customers enter the mobile payment space on a commercial basis, offering valuable and exciting benefits to consumers.”
About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are over 399 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending March 2010 those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of €1.4 trillion. 11.2% of consumer spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card, and more than 70% of that is on Visa debit cards.
Visa Europe is owned and operated by more than 4,000 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004. In October 2007, Visa Europe became independent of the new global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual license in Europe. As a dedicated European payment system it is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers – cardholders and retailers – and to meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market for payments.
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 200 countries. For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com
About DeviceFidelity
DeviceFidelity, Inc. develops plug-and-play technologies that empower a variety of institutions to deploy their services and applications on millions of mobile phones worldwide. Its patent-pending In2Pay microSD and In2Pay iCaisse solution transforms popular mobile phones into an interactive contactless transaction device. Committed to bringing contactless innovation to the mobile phone, the company has numerous patents pending in both U.S. and international patent offices. DeviceFidelity is a private corporation with headquarters in Richardson, Texas and offices in San Mateo, California and New York. For more information, go to www.devicefidelity.com.
Bank of America and Visa to test Mobile payments
Bank of America and Visa Inc are planning to commence a test program next month, which would allow customers to pay their bills via Smartphones.
This program is the biggest ever step taken by two companies to create a ‘digital wallet’ with a mass of financial capabilities built into the latest handsets.
According to Visa’s spokeswoman, The Company is also planning to carry out a similar test program with US Bancorp this year. US Bancorp spokeswoman confirmed that the company would commence its conduct in October.
Although mobile payments are a big hit in countries like Japan, the USA has been a little slow to adopt the technology.
According to BofA’s head of electronic commerce, Laurie Readhead, the company takes this as a significant capability giving the increasing acceptance and adoption of bank services on the phone.
The program will allow customers to install small chips in their smartphones that produce radio signals over very short distances, given by Visa and its technology dealers.
According to Visa spokeswoman Elvira Swanson, the Bank of America pilot was not larger than the company’s other mobile tests, but it could have a more powerful impact on the market than some previous pilots. It’s a way to accelerate mobile contactless payments in the U.S. market.
Bank of America established its mobile banking services in 2007 and holds more than 5 million customers carrying out $15 billion in transactions via their phones mostly for bill payments and account transfers.
Airtel’s shares slips 10% as it inks deal with Zain (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel’s deal with Kuwaiti telecom Zain for its African cellular assets has been given thumbs down by the brokerages as the company shares slipped 10 per cent. $10.7 billion offer is expected to give financial strain to the company.
According to the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, the valuation seems rich, the growth outlook for Zain’s African portfolio appears unexciting and a potential deal could materially stress Bharti’s balance sheet.
An announcement was made by Bharti offering to buy African assets of Kuwait’s Zain telecom for $10.7 billion.
US$800 million to be raised by Orascom from shareholders
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In a move to strengthen the balance sheet and ensure liquidity including financing needs, Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) has announced to plan a Rights Issue to raise around US$800 million from its shareholders.
The proposed Rights Issue is subject to shareholders’ approval at the EGM to be held on December 27, 2009. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited and EFG-Hermes has been appointed by OTH to advise on the Rights Issue.
Weather Investments owning approximately 50.6% of the outstanding shares of the company has expressed its commitment to subscribe for a minimum of its existing pro rata share in the Rights Issue.
According to Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of OTH, the transaction will enable the company to strengthen its balance sheet to benefit fully while the conditions improve across their core markets.
In the meantime the company will work towards the optimal resolution of the tax dispute in Algeria. The Rights Issue has been chosen at par as per common practice in the Egyptian Capital Markets.
Sprint Nextel struggling since merger
NWSource writes…Technology problems, strong competitors and cost-conscious customers continue to bedevil Sprint Nextel Corp. as the company struggles to make good on a merger that looked so appealing when it was announced three years ago.
The Reston, Va.-based company announced Monday that it had a net loss of more than 300,000 monthly subscribers during its fourth quarter and was cutting 5,000 jobs.
Sprint Nextel also said that it expected near-flat operating revenue and earnings for the coming fiscal year as it continues to lose customers and increases its spending on marketing and adding capacity to its cellular network.
Company officials predicted a return to growth in the second quarter, but investors hammered the company’s stock Tuesday, forcing shares down $2.19, or 11 percent, to $17.45 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $15.92 to $26.89.
CIBC World Markets analyst Timothy Horan was one of several analysts who downgraded Sprint Nextel’s stock, demoting it to “sector performer” from “sector outperformer.” He said the company’s customer base was “weak” and “exposed to a potentially slowing economy.”
Horan removed his target price, which had been $22. He said he expects the company to see difficulties winning back market share from rivals Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless, as the two are “locking in customers now with two-year contracts and almost 70 percent of subscribers on family plans and many of the others on enterprise plans.”
David Barden, an analyst with Bank of America, said he was taking a “wait and see” approach but clearly was less than optimistic.
“Longer term investors who have been playing Sprint for its turnaround potential will likely stay with the story, but will need to push out expectations for the `turnaround’ until (second quarter 2007) at the earliest, in our view,” Barden wrote in a research note. “We have shifted our expectations as well regarding this potential inflection, but not toward recovery per-se, but simply toward a moderation of the self-inflicted pain Sprint is incurring to rationalize its subscriber mix.”
The bulk of the subscribers leaving are Nextel customers, frustrated by continuing service problems that the company blames partly on technology issues and analysts say are a signal that the Sprint-Nextel merger of August 2005 is far from complete.
When Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint said in December 2004 that it would acquire Nextel Communications Inc. to create the third-largest wireless provider in the country, industry observers predicted it could be a good marriage. Nextel enjoyed great loyalty from construction crews, taxi companies and other businesses that liked the company’s press-to-talk feature, while Sprint built itself as a leader in developing content for the consumer market.
Since the deal’s consummation, however, the company has fallen behind its competitors as it struggled to blend the two corporate cultures and assimilate a host of acquired affiliates. It’s also been criticized for a marketing plan that experts said has ignored the different desires of Sprint and Nextel customers.
The company has also seen an exodus of Nextel executives, including former Chief Executive Tim Donahue, who stepped down as company chairman at the end of last year.
“On paper, (the merger) didn’t look too bad and it maybe made some sense,” said Greg Gorbatenko, a telecommunications analyst for Jackson Securities. “But the digestion of that was just horrible.”
Sprint Nextel’s latest efforts show executives realize the customer service problems. The company says it plans to spend $8.5 billion in the coming year, much of it to add signal sites and improve signal quality.
Last week, the company said it would revisit its marketing plans to better sell Sprint Nextel’s strengths.
The company is also continuing to strengthen credit requirements, hoping to weed out low-spending customers who are more likely to drop service. How many of the remaining customers will jump to cheaper or no-frills calling plans is still unknown.
