China Mobile upgrades consumers to NFC

China Everbright Bank and China Mobile's e-commerce subsidiary have joined forces on the operator's mobile wallet service. You Feng, gm of China Mobile's e-commerce operations division, said that China Mobile subscribers will be able to exchange their current SIM cards for SIM cards supporting mobile payments.

China Everbright Bank and China Mobile’s e-commerce subsidiary have joined forces on the operator’s mobile wallet service.

You Feng, gm of China Mobile’s e-commerce operations division, said that China Mobile subscribers will be able to exchange their current SIM cards for SIM cards supporting mobile payments. The SIM card upgrades will be offered for free at the firm’s service centers beginning in mid-April.

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The functionality will require an NFC-compatible handset. Consequently, China Mobile will offer the payment solution through three phones from HTC and Samsung in April, and will expand the feature to cover several dozen mobile phones by the end of 2013.

The firm hopes that this will result in the sale of more than 10 million NFC-enabled handsets by year’s end.
In addition to China Everbright, China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC, and the Bank of China have signed on for China Mobile’s mobile wallet service.

Users of the mobile wallet will be able to use compatible mobile phones with more than a million "Quick Pass" POS terminals provided by China UnionPay across the country.

The new mobile payment service, the "One Card" ("Yikatong") passes used for Beijing public transit will be added to the mobile wallet app ecosystem in May 2013, allowing consumers to pay for public transport tickets with a quick swipe of their mobile.