News

Visa pushing m-commerce in Asia

November 4, 2003

BANGKOK, Thailand - Visa International plans to introduce payment technology through mobile phones in Thailand next year following its successful debut in South Korea and Japan, according to a report in the Bangkok Post.

'Thailand could be seeing the m-commerce services sometime in 2005, with the proximity payment system likely to apply for the Thai market,' said Bruce Mansfield, general manager of Visa Asia-Pacific.

The proximity payment system is a payment transaction that takes place between a buyer's mobile phone and a seller's terminal using infrared technology.

Mansfield said mobile commerce had plenty of potential in Thailand as local telecom operators and banks were moving to develop their services into wireless commerce.

He said m-commerce would be increasingly important to a wide range of services industries, including banking, bill payment, buying items from vending machines and retail outlets, cinema ticket purchases and road-toll payments.

According to a study by Visa, m-commerce is expected to generate more than U.S. $48 billion by 2006. Of that total, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for 42 percent.

More than a third of mobile net subscribers in Japan have already used their phones to buy goods, according to the Bangkok Post report.

The challenge, Mansfield said, is for telecom operators to integrate wireless networks and infrastructure with banks' payment systems in order to link up the same protocol and applications.

Visa has approximately 80 percent share in the Thai credit card market in terms of cards issued.