Japan’s largest mobile carrier NTT DOCOMO has partnered with South Korea’s telecom company KT Corporation to create a cross-border NFC payment network, and with MasterCard to extend its NFC m-wallet service on a global scale.

NTT DOCOMO and KT are developing a cross border NFC payment network what will enable users of Osaifu-Keitai, NTT DOCOMO’s NFC e-wallet-enabled smartphone, to make payments on South Korean e-money network Cashbee. Cashbee is a service provided by eB Card, a subsidiary of the Japanese-South Korean conglomerate LOTTE, available at 52,000 locations including stores and public transport. The service currently has 5m users.

Toshiki Nakayama, senior vice president and managing director of DOCOMO’s frontier services department, said: "DOCOMO is excited about creating a cross-border environment that enables Osaifu-Keitai services both in Japan and abroad. Going forward, we will partner with international operators and service providers to drive the development of mobile-payment businesses for increasingly enhanced mobile experiences on a global scale."

Following the partnership with MasterCard, users of DOCOMO’s m-payment services will be able to make contactless payments on MasterCard PayPass terminals around the world by March 2014.

Vicky Bindra, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, said: "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. 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."

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