Vodafone Wallet Goes Contactless

Vodafone customers will be able to use their phones to tap and pay using contactless terminals in its European markets from the second quarter of 2015 onwards.

Bank card payments will be possible using a range of Android devices using a Vodafone NFC SIM card.

Forward step

“The digital wallet just took another step forward,” said Mark Ritzmann, head of m-commerce at Vodafone Group. “With a few clicks, customers will be able to add payment cards to their Vodafone Wallet and use Android smartphones to pay at contactless terminals.”

Vodafone has teamed up with Visa and Carta Worldwide for the “fast, secure and simple service”, which stores an alias of a user’s bank card on the phone’s SIM. Verification comes from Visa’s Verified service, and the Wallet is secured with a four-digit PIN.

“We are really excited to bring this new payment service together with Vodafone, which will enable Visa credit and debit cards to be used for mobile contactless payments,” said Jeremy Nicholds, executive director mobile at Visa Europe.

“This initiative is part of Visa’s strategy to accelerate mobile payments and make it easier for banks to enable their cards to make payments on mobile phones and for consumers to pay in the most secure and convenient way.”

Available in Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy and The Netherlands, Vodafone Wallet first launched in March 2014 as part of the company’s mCommerce strategy designed to provide a mobile alternative to coins, banknotes and plastic cards.

The launch will come as another welcome boom for the UK contactless payments industry, which is currently going from strength to strength.

Recent findings showed that there were 45 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK by the end of 2014, when spending via contactless leapt 115 percent by value and 108 percent by volume.

This figure seems only set to increase, especially as the spending rate for contactless payments will rise to £30 from September.

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