Mobile operator Orange is expanding its mobile payment services to a third country, with plans to launch a commercial offering in Poland.
The carrier plans to launch Orange Cash, an NFC-based m-payment service developed in conjunction with mBank and MasterCard Europe, in November. The service adds to existing Orange mobile payment offers in France and the UK, and is the first of its kind in Poland, according to Maciej Witucki, president of the firm’s local Orange Polska division.
“This is the next step, where smartphones become something much more than just a device for talking, texting and accessing the Internet,” Witucki says.
The service uses a combination of Orange SIM cards, a prepaid card from mBank, and MasterCard’s PayPass payment terminals. Paweł Rychliński, cluster dead of MasterCard Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Balkans, says one in every three payment terminals in Poland are equipped with PayPass, and that at least 10% of the firm’s transactions in the country are currently handled by the service.
“During the last four years, Poland has become one of the undisputed leaders in the development of contactless payments,” Rychliński states.