Payment services
Telefónica CR has been providing payment services to its customers in keeping with the Act No. 284/2009 Coll., on the payment system, already from 1 November 2009. The services allow customers raise a payment order and use their mobile device or fixed line to pay for goods or services provided by third parties. The customer has a choice of several methods of payments; the most widely used method is via Premium SMS, which, in 2011, was opted for by 435 thousand customers per month on average. The so-called Audiotex (Premium-rate Telephone Number) service was the second most popular payment method, with an average monthly payment per customer of CZK 913, up 21.1% year on year. The total of funds used to pay for goods and services, via the two aforementioned methods of payment, reached CZK 806 million in our network alone in 2011.
Also in 2011, Telefónica CR, in collaboration with other mobile operators, members of the Association of Mobile Network Operators, continued its campaign ‘Plať mobilem’ (www.platmobilem.cz, ‘Pay with Your Mobile’). Its role is to promote mobile transactions in the amount between CZK 20 and CZK 1,500 that can be made using a mobile data capable mobile telephone. Telefónica CR offers the service, m-platba, in its portfolio.
In October 2010, Telefónica O2, together with several Czech banks (Česká spořitelna, a.s., GE Money Bank, a.s., Raiffeisenbank, a.s., UniCredit Bank Czech Republic, a.s.), mobile operator Vodafone Czech Republic, a.s., and A-communications (Malta) Limited, started MOPET CZ, a.s., a company incorporated in the Commercial Register on 3 November 2010. The company’s business is to launch a new mobile payment method in the Czech market, to provide an alternative to cash payments for goods and services.
Delays in the launch of a new mobile payment service under the brand Mobito (a project by Mopet), which were caused by a change in the supplier of the transaction platform (August 2011), were shortened to the maximum by an intensive effort put in by all participating partners. The launch of the pilot service is planned in the first half of 2012.
As in the previous years, also in 2011 Telefónica CR continued its pilot of NFC (Near Field Communication) for mobile devices. In cooperation with Komerční banka, Citibank, Globus, Visa Europe and the suppliers of NFC technology (G&D and Oberthur), Telefónica CR launched a contactless Visa card in the mobile application O2 Wallet in July 2011. In November, the project was expanded to include the already ongoing project of the Pilsen travel card in a mobile. In 2012, both pilot projects will be seamlessly carried over to a live operation of contactless mobile NFC services.