Visa plans to parlay its investment in Near Field Communication technology in Australia through a venture with the top telcos and numerous handset manufacturers to establish contactless payments.
Visa intends to have its payWave contactless card technology incorporated into a mobile platform in Australia late this year or early next year, Vipin Kalra, Visa's country manager for Australia, states in an Oct. 10 press release.
Visa is working with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to implement the plan.
Visa has made "a significant investment" in a mobile NFC ecosystem and new infrastructure for remote payments, Kalra says.
"Any device that is intelligent and mobile and connected could potentially be the origination point for a mobile payment," he adds.
In addition to the mobile payment initiative, Visa will also release its
Mobile payWave and the online V.me will "eventually both collide on a mobile device," Kalra says.
Visa will offer the V.me digital wallet as a payment option on the popular CatchOfTheDay e-commerce site in Australia, Visa says in its Viewpoints Australia blog.
Other sites carrying V.me include Scoopon, Mumgo, GroceryRun and EatNow, the Visa blog states.
