KPN teams with Rabobank to launch Android-smartphone NFC mobile payment service

KPN announced plans to deploy a SIM-based NFC mobile payment service this spring in collaboration with leading Dutch banking group Rabobank.

The operator said Rabobank customers with a KPN subscription will be able to use the service -- named Rabo Wallet -- to save details of their debit card to the NFC SIM to enable them to make contactless payments at the point of sale (PoS). Rabobank is one of the foremost issuing banks in the Netherlands, Finextra reported.

KPN added that the SIM is compatible with smartphones running Android version 4.4 and upwards, and that it is moving to a full implementation after testing the contactless mobile payment service on a selected number of Samsung smartphones. The operator said shifting to a platform-based rather than device-specific approach means Rabobank will be able to market Rabo Wallet to a larger number of customers.

The operator said at least 80 per cent of Dutch mobile users have a smartphone and that more than 33 per cent of payment terminals in the country are already equipped with NFC technology. The number of compatible terminals is tipped to hit 50 per cent by the end of 2016, KPN added.

Jasper Snijder, director of New Business at KPN, said smartphones are becoming increasingly important in daily life, and that its role in contactless payments "is a given". He added that the collaboration with Rabobank will deliver "the convenience of safe and fast mobile payments via NFC technology".

Rabobank's head of finance, payments and insurance, Vonk Elze, said the partnership with KPN opens the door to a "significantly larger group of customers", while tapping into a growing consumer desire to "do more with their smartphones".

KPN said the NFC SIM was made available to its customers on Jan. 1, and will be offered to subscribers of its Telfort and Simyo brands from Feb. 1.

Research company Gartner last month said consumers are increasingly accepting of mobile payment services, which have suffered sluggish uptake to date. The company predicted that half of all consumers in mature markets will use smartphones or wearable devices to make payments by 2018.

For more:
- see this KPN announcement (in Dutch)
- view this Finextra report

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