China is gearing up to form a new national mobile payment standard to streamline technology for operators and users, as well as optimize existing resources in the sector.
China’s Ministry of Industry, the People’s Bank and the National Standard Committee established a joint working group in September to develop the new mobile payment standard, according to local media reports and Xinhua, the state-owned news service.
Meng Zhang, an analyst with Beijing-based research firm Analysys International, tells PaymentsSource that progress in the mobile payments sector has been blocked by four main factors, including lack of coordination among participating players; incomplete regulation of market systems; a delay in the development of payment standards and the lack of customer-acquisition programs.
Zhang says that China’s mobile payment sector currently relies on four different standards. They include the dual-interface card program, Near Field Communication technology and SD cards, all based on 13.56 MHz contactless technology; and the RF-SIM card solution based on the 2.4 GHz technology.
One of these payments standards should be adopted across the sector, said Zhang, “otherwise there might be duplication and waste of resources, which will be detrimental to the entire mobile payments sector. Without a payment standard, companies will not be able to set clear goals for themselves.”
Chinese mobile payment transactions reached 2.6 billion yuan (US$407 million or 298 million euros) in 2010, up quadruple its 2009 volume 0.65 billion yuan, according to a report from China Electronic Commerce Research.
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