DBS launches mobile payments pilot
Some 1, 000 DBS customers with StarHub mobile plans will be the first in Singapore to use the near field communications for mobile payments.
The trial will begin in December 2010 and will last for eight months. The project, which was collaboratively organized by DBS Bank, EZ-Link, Gemalto, MasterCard and StarHub, will involve adding an N-Flex solution enabling to turn conventional handsets into NFC-enabled mobile phone without any change to the device.
The N-Flex solution functions on SIM cards across multiple mobile handsets helping to accelerate the ubiquity of handsets supporting NFC. The conforms to the Single Wire Protocol as endorsed by the GSM Association.
The NFC trial user will then be able to make payments with their mobile handsets at all merchant outlets that accept the MasterCard PayPass or the ez-link card, as well as on public transportation such as buses and trains. The trial will involve a group of participants who will receive an electronic mailer from either StarHub or DBS Bank that contains instructions on how to register their participation online.
Pilot participants will then be required to visit the StarHub Customer Service Centre at One Raffles Place (OUB Centre) or designated StarHub road shows to have the Upteq N-Flex device inserted and mapped onto the SIM cards of their mobile handsets before they can start making payments with their phones.