Telecom launches txt hotline to ASB

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Telecom and ASB Bank have united to launch txt-based payment services from mobile phones.

The service follows a similar product offered by Vodafone and Westpac but is a step further down the technology track because the transaction will see money extracted directly from a customer's bank account rather than being charged to his or her phone account.

Clayton Wakefield, ASB Bank general manager of technology and operations, said eventually customers would be able to buy things such as pizza and airline tickets from a mobile phone.

The service, called Mobile Payment or mPayment, is a big step for Telecom, which has lagged behind Vodafone when it comes to services, handsets and products.

Wakefield said it was a small start and the bank had already upgraded its servers and taken on software to handle the transactions.

While just the two companies are involved at present, Wakefield said other parties had been invited and there was a possibility that "some form of company" could be formed that would be like a "mobile Eftpos company" for all participants whether banks, carriers or other parties.

Initially, the service will enable consumers with a Telecom Prepaid mobile phone and an ASB Bank account to top up their phone credit from their bank account via SMS text message. It is an alternative to topping up phones with scratch and credit cards or ATM machines.

In the future, the service will be expanded to customers for other goods and services in situations where they are not in front of the merchant or don't have access to traditional payment methods of cash, Eftpos or credit card.

Telecom chief operating officer Simon Moutter said it was only the start of what the company would be doing in this area.

"We have some 1.3 million mobile customers so that is a lot of potential transaction points around the country."

Mobile turned in around $750 million last year.

Moutter said around 500,000 of the mobile customers were using prepay and were spending about $50 million a year with an average spend of about $7.

As the service is bedded down Telecom will offer other products and services to its customers.

ASB Bank and Telecom's Advanced Solutions group completed technical trials over the Christmas period and plan to launch the service in late March.

Technology is being provided by Auckland's Mobile Commerce, a start-up at the Icehouse incubator attached to Auckland University.