Topic “Vodafone”

Vodafone Quietly Kills SmartPass to Clear Way for Proxy Card Service as it Prepares to Take on OEM Pays with Its Own ‘Pay’

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – UK-based Vodafone Group remains one of the major holdouts among telcos in continuing to support NFC SIM cards, as it seeks to stay competitive against the coming of the “OEM Pays” services in Europe.

Top 10 Misses for NFC in 2015: SIM-Based NFC Falls Further; Apple Pay Expansion Comes Up Short

Jan 13 2016

NFC Times Exclusive – While 2015 was arguably the year that saw the most important rollouts yet of NFC technology, led by Apple Pay, 2015, like past years, was mar

Telco-Led NFC Payments Continue as Niche Market, but Growth Prospects Uncertain

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Orange in Spain is the latest telco to announce the launch of a co-branded mobile-payments service using SIM cards and NFC phones, one of about 15 or so operators to launch globally so far. But it remains to be seen how many more will follow suit.

NFC SIM Shipments Show Strong Gains in 2014, but Future Growth Remains in Doubt

Apr 23 2015

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – The SIMalliance vendor group is playing up what it calls soaring growth in NFC SIM shipments in 2014, despite troubling signs for the future of SIM-based NFC, such as Apple Pay and similar initiatives by other OEMs, as well as growing interest in host-card emulation and the failure of SIM-based NFC services to take off.

Vodafone Seeks to Revamp Wallet with Tokenization and Apple Pay Technology Model

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Vodafone Group is relaunching its NFC-based Vodafone Wallet with tokenized payment applications, as it seeks to attract more users and issuers to the mobile wallet.

The Year Ahead for NFC: Telcos Finally Ready to Roll Out, But Alternatives to SIMs Multiply

Jan 7 2014

NFC Times Exclusive: As 2014 unfolds, the NFC ecosystem appears as unsettled as ever, with embedded secure chips expected to compete with NFC SIMs in several markets to store applications, and Google throwing its weight behind an alternative that could eventually enable service providers to avoid secure elements altogether.

Orange Cuts Deal with Visa to Launch Orange Cash on NFC Phones in France

NFC Times Exclusive: France’s largest mobile operator, Orange, has concluded a deal with Visa to support its launch of Orange Cash in France, the latest mobile operator to announce plans to roll out its own branded prepaid payment service on NFC phones.

Vodafone Gears up for NFC Payment Launch in Spain and Other Markets

Vodafone Spain’s recent announcement of the planned launch of its co-branded prepaid NFC payment service SmartPass, could be the first NFC payment rollout from Vodafone, supported by Visa, since the two companies announced a nonexclusive deal to work together on mobile payment in February 2012.

Vendors Announce TSM, Mobile-Wallet Supply Deals with Vodafone

Vendors announced Monday they are supplying UK-based Vodafone Group with trusted service management services and mobile-wallet software, respectively, as the UK-based telco gears up for NFC commercial launches.

France’s No. 2 Telco SFR to Delve into Payments Market, Roll out NFC SIMs

France’s No. 2 mobile operator SFR is the latest telco with plans to get into the payments market, today announcing it would roll out a contactless co-branded prepaid card with the help of MasterCard Worldwide, with the intention of expanding the service to NFC phones.

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.

Moscow Metro Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.