Telefonica to offer mobile money solutions

Telefonica Deutschland, which provides telecoms services in Germany under the O2 brand, has announced that it plans to launch two new mobile payment solutions from mid-February. The ‘mpass Geld senden’ service will enable customers to perform mobile-to-mobile transfers from one mpass account to another, practically in real time. The use of the transfer service is handled securely by the mpass app and is free of charge. Another service, ‘O2 Wallet’, will become available on a trial basis from next month. The solution enables contactless payment at shops accepting PayPass payments in Germany and around the world. A smartphone with NFC support and a corresponding NFC-capable SIM card are required. Telefonica said that over the course of the year, it will be expanding its ‘wallet service’ to include additional applications and functions such as other payment cards, vouchers and loyalty schemes, adding that the first bank will shortly be joining the scheme, allowing the integration of a digitised credit card.