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ZD Net Asia News, October 15, 2001

US$11m Set Aside For Mobile Payment Trials

SINGAPORE - The Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and various industry players will be spending about S$20 million (US$11 million) on mobile payment solutions trials in the Republic.

The trials--on direct debit payment, stored-value and credit card solutions--are expected to run from the first quarter of 2002 to the end of August 2002, and will involve at least 10,000 mobile users here.

Between S$7 million and S$12 million of the total investment will come from IDA's S$200 million Wired With Wireless program, and the rest from industry players involved in the trials, a statement said.

According to IDA chief executive Yong Ying-I, the development of a mobile payment infrastructure will help stimulate the entire mobile commerce ecosystem.

"The mobile payment infrastructure will enable revenue generation, which is necessary if we are to see compelling applications and services from merchants and service providers," said Yong. She was speaking at a Call for Collaboration (CFC) media conference today.

The CFC is an IDA-led program designed to encourage collaboration among industry players, including telecommunication companies, banks and application providers, to provide an open platform to meet mobile payment solutions needs.

Four consortia for trials
Four consortia have been selected to test run the mobile solutions. They are:

Consortium 1:	National Computer Systems Pte Ltd, Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd, StarHub Pte Ltd, MobileOne (Asia) Pte Ltd, Visa International, Eng Wah Organization, Diethelm Singapore Pte Ltd, National Library Board, the National University of Singapore, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) and the Development Bank of Singapore
Consortium 2:	Nokia, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) and the Development Bank of Singapore
Consortium 3:	Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd, Citibank NA, BCS Information Systems, WizVision.com Pte Ltd, mVent, Green Dot Capital Pte Ltd, Premas International, CET Technologies Pte Ltd, Sun Microsystems, Cathay Organization Holdings Ltd, CalendarOne, National Service Resort & Country Club, StarHub Pte Ltd, MasterCard International and mPayment Pte Ltd
Consortium 4:	Systems@Work, Hewlett-Packard's Mobile e-Services Bazaar, Gemplus, Suntec City and Visa International

The selection process was based on each consortium's "end-to-end solution, a valid proposition for the consumer and the export potential of the proposed solution," noted Center for Wireless Communications director Lye Kin Mun in the statement.

The National Computer Systems-led consortium, for example, will offer customers the chance to pay using a NETS virtual card or credit card via short messaging service (SMS) and wireless application protocol (WAP). Some of the expected mobile services include carpark and movie payments. The consortium hopes to roll out its mobile payment solutions trial services next May.

Separately, IDA's Yong also announced two new CFCs for wireless development--one on Mobile Workforce Solutions and the other on Wireless Java Solutions.

The former hopes to encourage the use of wireless technologies to enhance business competitiveness. The latter will put in place a test bed for Java application developers, together with the Java Wireless Competency Center formed between Sun Microsystems and the Center for Wireless Communications, said Yong.

By Anand Menon