SINGAPORE—Singapore’s telecom regular Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has selected four consortia to trial mobile payment solutions through a US$11 million initiative.
The trials will run from the first quarter of 2002 until the end of August and involve at least 10,000 pilot mobile users. The solutions will include direct debit payment, stored value solutions and credit card solutions. Trials will be run through local retailers.
The four selected consortia were chosen from 12 groups that were short listed by an evaluation committee.
“The selection process was based on a few broad criteria with an emphasis on an end-to-end solution, a valid proposition for the consumer and the export potential of the proposed solution,” said Lye Kin Mun, one of the evaluation committee members.
The first consortium includes the country’s three wireless operators and other groups, a second consortium includes Nokia and two other vendors. A third group includes StarHub Mobile, Citibank, Mastercard and numerous other companies, while the final consortium includes Visa, Hewlett Packard, Gemplus and other companies.
IDA will commit between US$4 million and US$6.4 million to the project, with the remaining funds coming from the industry.
