TCL Corp., a China-based mobile-phone manufacturer, has inked a deal with China UnionPay in which the companies will provide mobile handsets that support payment functions, the companies announced earlier this month.
“These phones will allow users, via an in-built application, to transfer money, make credit card payments, pay for travel bookings and make utility bill payments as well,” a TCL spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.
The services initially will be available in four major Chinese provinces, including Shanghai and Shenzhen, he says. “We will later expand to 10 provinces in all by the end of this year,” the spokesperson says. “This addition of mobile-payment products to our portfolio will surely help us in achieving a better sales performance next year.”
TCL effectively is the first handset maker that has qualified for China UnionPay’s mobile-payment model, the spokesperson adds. Though he declined to estimate how many of the new handsets the company will sell, local media reports suggested that in the first six months of this year TCL sold 14.2 million mobile handsets worldwide, including1.3 million in China.
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