Telcos Have Opportunities In Micropayments
Telcos have "a very real opportunity" if they "can get together to run an underlying global service [for micropayments] that has national operators as partners", reports Communications International. For instance, a service similar to what Visa and MasterCard offer banks around the world,The Register, a UK-based IT news site, turned to local telcos, Cellnet and Vodafone, for its micropayments service, but this only works in the UK, so its international audience is not accommodated. If a Register visitor wants to see the site's weekly video, and is a subscriber to Cellnet or Vodafone, they can send a text message to request a password for the current episode, at a cost of 35 cents. A service is also available to fixed-line telephone subscribers, but this example shows how international Web sites offering pay-per-use services, will need to partner with global telcos to provide a comprehensive service.
As CI says, The Register's system has promise, but "it seems ludicrous that to pay a Web site you have to make a phone call, collect a password and then input it, compared to the simplicity of entering a credit card number online". Equally importantly, "just because a decent micropayment system doesn't exist", CI continues, "millions of customers and thousands of suppliers" are prevented from doing business with each other over the Internet. However, telcos only have a small window of opportunity, in view of last month's moves by the credit card firms to set up the Mobile Payment Forum. Related Links
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