Vodafone and Visa have announced a worldwide partnership that’ll enable consumers to pay for goods and services using their mobile phones. It’ll be a Vodafone branded NFC service based on a Visa payWave prepaid account and will launch first in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the UK during the coming financial year.
The partnership is thought to be the largest of its kind between a global payment network and mobile operator.
In addition to the Vodafone-branded mobile wallet, Vodafone and Visa will also work together to enable Visa card issuers to take mobile payments. This new platform will be open to all partners in relevant industries, including financial institutions, retailers, transport and utility companies.
Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone, said “The Vodafone mobile wallet represents the next stage of the smartphone revolution. It offers our customers the speed, simplicity and convenience of managing their everyday transactions with a single wave or tap of their smartphone, using innovative and reliable services developed by Vodafone and Visa - technology and providers they can trust. Our mobile wallet will be open to any service provider and we are committed to enable all partners to provide our joint customers the richest service portfolio possible.”