Hong Kong Telco Launches NFC Payments Service and App; Requires Users to Change SIMs

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Hong Kong Telecom is the latest telco to introduce its own prepaid mobile payments service and wallet app, which supports MasterCard PayPass for in-store purchases, along with online payments and a peer-to-peer funds transfer service–the latter initiated by NFC P2P mode.

The telco, through its mobile brands csl and 1O1O, will require most or all users to change SIM cards to use the new Tap & Go payments service, which has been a pain point for other telcos introducing SIM-based mobile payments. 

Hong Kong Telecom calls the cards that will host the application its “all-in-one” NFC SIMs, which would apparently also potentially support such other applications as Octopus transit and retail payment and credit cards from Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Shanghai Commercial Bank. The telco has supported Octopus and the credit cards in the past on its SIMs through the apps of Octopus and the banks, though take-up is believed to be small. In addition, while Octopus is a popular closed-loop contactless card in Hong Kong, the Octopus Mobile Payment service, launched in late 2013, appears to be a limited offering because of some technical restrictions, including the availability of NFC phones that can support the application.