VISA Launches Mobile Payment Service in Peru
VISA Launches Mobile Payment Service in Peru
VISA, the world’s leading credit and debit card company, has just tied up with Telefonica and Visanet Peru to provide mobile payment services in the South American country. The services will initially enable Telefonica users possessing a debit or credit card from Visa to initiate a purchase transaction with their mobile phone, through the wireless network.
In the beginning, the service and product offering will consist of small daily purchases such as cab payments, flower orders and top up of mobile prepaid accounts. It is the intention to expand the range of products offered to gas distribution, catalog orders, pharmaceutical products and more.
This service is the first of its kind in Latin America. Visa expects the services to become a commercial success. “We are reaching a milestone in the payment industry in Latin America,” said Jurgen Wassmann, Head of Emerging Products and Channels for Visa Inc., Latin America and Caribbean Region. “Visa is bringing the future of payments to Latin America with a technology that makes consumers’ lives easier by allowing them to pay anytime, anywhere, and in a way that is both simple and convenient.”
The programme enables not only mobile users to gain an advantage, but also merchants. Traders and shopkeepers in remote regions of the country, which have not till now had access to traditional credit card terminals will now be able to receive credit and debit transactions, using their mobile phone.
Although on a small scale, this is probably one of the most exciting and serious mobile payment initiatives seen till date. The business model, a bit like South African and Indian oxigen/myOxigen, is great because it empowers not only the consumer, but also the merchant.
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