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Belgium's nearly 10 million mobile phone users could
soon use text messages to pay for everything from a taxi ride to a
pizza in what organisers of the new system describe as a "world
first."
"No other country has
developed an equivalent system," said Vincent Roland, the chief
executive of Belgian firm Banksys, which is developing and will run
the service.
"In some countries, it's
possible to pay for a soda or parking with a text message, but those
are less secure solutions for the user and have fewer payment
guarantees for the seller," he said.
When the service is launched in
mid May, users will need a bank account in Belgium and a mobile
phone subscription for one of the three Belgian networks: Proximus,
Mobistar and Base.
A trader or service provider
sends a request for payment in a text message to the customer, who
then confirms the purchase with a secret code. Both then receive a
text message confirming the transaction.
There are no subscription fees
for the service but buyers will be charged 25 euro cents, including
value added tax, per purchase while sellers will have to pay 49
cents excluding VAT.
The profits will be shared out
between Banksys, mobile operators and the banks.
The service will only be applicable for purchases over six euros.
Banksys' Roland said that the
service could be particularly attractive for plumbers, taxi drivers
and delivery people who cannot take payments with traditional debit
or credit cards.
If it takes off in Belgium,
Banksys and its French parent company Atos plan to develop the
service in Britain, France and Italy.
Development of the system has
taken three years and cost "several hundred thousand euros per
operator," according to an official at Mobistar.
-- AFP
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