Original post by Mobile Tech News
Berlin — MasterCard (MA) and Deutsche Telekom today announced a European partnership to enable consumers to use their mobile phones as a convenient and secure way to pay.
At a press conference in Berlin today, Deutsche Telekom and MasterCard highlighted the importance of their partnership and the introduction of mobile payments – one of the fastest growing consumer services in the last five years. The partnership aims to make mobile payments a reality for Deutsche Telekom’s 93 million mobile customers across Europe.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr Thomas Kiessling, Chief Product and Innovation Officer for Deutsche Telekom said, “This is a huge step on our way to increase mobile payments. With MasterCard we have a well-known and experienced partner generating growth in this important market segment. We want to build a comprehensive ecosystem around mobile payment, helping Telekom to realize its strategy of being the first choice for customers regarding connected life and work.”
The first consumer roll-out will take place in Poland later this year. Also this year German consumers will be introduced to mobile payments, initially in a trial with mobile phone tags and cards, continuing into the first half of next year with a mobile wallet service which will also be open to other issuing banks and partners. Deutsche Telekom will issue the MasterCard products via its subsidiary company ClickandBuy, the owner of an e-money licence. Products will also be launched in other European markets.
