Bancherul - BANCI / ENGLISH / MasterCard partners with NTT DOCOMO, the leading mobile phone operator in Japan, for mobile payments

NTT DOCOMO, the leading mobile phone operator in Japan partners with MasterCard, allowing its users who’s phones are registered to make payments, to do so at any of the nearly 500,000 PayPass locations worldwide.

Tokyo, Japan, October 11, 2012 - MasterCard and NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan’s leading mobile operator and provider of integrated services centered on mobility, announced that MasterCard has been selected as a partner to expand contactless payments options for consumers in Japan, said MasterCard in a statement.

The collaboration will connect DOCOMO’s domestic payment network to the world, enabling customers using iD mobile credit payments with compatible DOCOMO smartphones to make contactless payments outside of Japan, anywhere MasterCard® PayPass™ is accepted.

NTT DOCOMO and MasterCard unveiled the details of their collaboration at a launch event in Tokyo today. Said Vicky Bindra, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard Worldwide: “This launch is significant in that it not only marks another milestone in NTT DOCOMO’s and MasterCard’s history; it is also a landmark moment in the Japanese payments industry.” Bindra continued, “Independent industry growth projections suggest that the global installed base of NFC-ready point-of-sale terminals could grow to 43.4m units in 2017[1]. This signifies the great potential in the contactless payment space. Our collaboration with NTT DOCOMO will open up endless possibilities of new forms of payments and other value-added services, and will help us continue to make contactless payments safer and easier, giving consumers more choices in how to pay.”

Masaki Yoshikawa, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of DOCOMO’s Credit Card Business Division, said: “DOCOMO launched the iD-branded mobile credit payments in Japan in 2005. With 17m users, we have the most number of subscribers using the Osaifu-Keitai™ (mobile phones with wallet functions) . This collaboration with MasterCard will enable our iD users to make payments at PayPass merchants worldwide and increase the usage of mobile payment solutions.”

Availability

The companies plan to start preparation to launch the service in the first half of fiscal year 2013[2], at which time customers in Japan using both iD mobile credit payments (based on FeliCa® technology) and an NFC (FeliCa＋TypeA/B) compatible DOCOMO smartphone will be entitled to the new service enabling contactless payments outside Japan, anywhere MasterCard PayPass is accepted. At launch, the service will be available on two new DOCOMO handsets:

•docomo with series Xperia™ AX SO-01E
•docomo NEXT series AQUOS PHONE™ ZETA SH-02E
These phones join the more than 70 models already approved by MasterCard as Mobile PayPass compatible devices. Simply by opting in for MasterCard PayPass, these DOCOMO customers will get to enjoy the convenience of Tap & Go™ when paying for purchases via their mobile phones.

MasterCard Boosts Mobile Payments Transformation

For over a decade, MasterCard has led the transformation of mobile phones into secure mobile payment devices. At the same time, MasterCard’s PayPass contactless payment network has been growing and now boasts nearly 500,000 merchant locations in 41 countries, including popular destinations for Japanese travelers such as the United States, Korea and Taiwan. Merchants both large and small are using MasterCard PayPass at their point-of-sale, adding convenience and speed to improve the consumer experience. The Mobile PayPass payment application offers a rich consumer experience using the interactive features of mobile phones, enabling consumers to transact when, where, and how they choose.

Today’s announcement marks another step by MasterCard to further expand its presence in the mobile payments space, and deliver great mobile payments experiences to consumers. A few recent milestones include:

•August 2012: MasterCard collaborates with DBS, EZ-Link and Starhub to launch a Near Field Communication (NFC) app “SmartWallet,” a seamless and secure digital wallet service;
•August 2012: Westpac and MasterCard launch a new pilot, Android Mobile Contactless Payment application, enabling participants to pay for items, by tapping their phone in-store on a contactless NFC MasterCard PayPass payment terminal.

•August 2012: MasterCard and Everything Everywhere, the UK’s largest communications company, announced an exclusive, five-year partnership to develop leading mobile and digital payment solutions for Everything Everywhere’s 27 million UK customers.
•July 2012: MasterCard and Deutsche Telekom announced a European partnership to enable consumers to use their mobile phones as a convenient and secure way to pay. The partnership aims to make mobile payments a reality for Deutsche Telekom’s 93 million mobile customers across Europe.

•January 2012: MasterCard, Turkcell and Research In Motion announce the commercial availability of an NFC mobile wallet application, the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan, for BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone customers in Turkey. This application enables Turkcell customers to make payments in a simple, easy, safe and convenient way by simply tapping their NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold 9900 against a MasterCard PayPass reader in shops, retail outlets, cafes and restaurants across Turkey.

•January 2012: MasterCard, Commonwealth Bank and Hoyts announce Australia will be the first country to pilot QkR™ by MasterCard, a new queue-busting mobile payment application developed by MasterCard that lets movie goers at selected La Premiere Hoyts cinemas order food and drinks directly from their seats by using their smart phone.