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The GSM Association (GSMA) says that 14 mobile operators representing 900 million mobile phone subscribers have agreed to take part in the wireless industry association's Pay-Buy Mobile contactless payments program.
South Korea's KTF will be the first mobile operator to launch a trial of Pay-Buy-Mobile payments, the GSMA says. The other operators participating in Pay-Buy Mobile are Cingular Wireless; China Mobile; KTF; MCI; MTN; NTT DoCoMo; Rogers Wireless; Smart Communications; Telenor, TeliaSonera; Telecom Italia; Turkcell; and Vimpelcom.
The Pay-Buy-Mobile program, announced last year, aims to define a global standard for Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled mobile devices. The first phase of the Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative will begin with the development of a business model for mobile payments, followed by the launch of a South Korean trial later this year. Besides KTF, the Korean trial will include banks, credit card issuers, retailers and handset manufacturers, the GSMA says.
Mobile phone-based transactions are already becoming commonplace in South Korea, according to the GSMA. The country has 12 million mobile payment-enabled handsets in circulation, along with 80,000 point-of-sale terminals in stores, restaurants and cafes, it says.
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