South Africa`s cellphone-owning population will soon be able to pay their telephone and electricity bills - and even accept payments - from their mobile phones when South Africa`s first secure mobile commerce payment application is launched soon.
The system, which allows for payments from cellphone to cellphone, to a point-of-sale, or a myriad of other devices, is the brainchild of mobile payment solutions provider Fundamo. This capability has now been extended by the partnership with Prism Payment Technologies which brings the EasyPay service offering of TranSwitch Services, a subsidiary member of the Prism Group. EasyPay facilitates the free payment of a variety of accounts.
Fundamo, which provides an open solution for mobile payments, is fully backed by financial services giant Sanlam, and is headed by former Sanlam Chief Information Officer (CIO) Hannes van Rensburg.
"Mobile commerce is a reality and offers huge opportunities for the South African and global mobile payment market," said Van Rensburg. "The true killer app for wireless is anything that makes life easier for us in our personal and professional capacities. We`re moving to empower consumers to securely conduct their transactions at their convenience.
"What is currently lacking is a secure, trusted, ready for deployment payment system, which can be integrated into new as well as existing applications."
For several years now EasyPay has enabled consumers to pay various types of accounts, including local authority accounts, Eskom and Telkom, at Pick `n Pay. This was recently extended to the Internet. Marrying EasyPay`s payment mechanism with Fundamo`s mobile commerce capabilities was "an obvious move with enormous benefits for all parties especially the consumers," says Van Rensburg.
"Integration between EasyPay`s and Fundamo`s systems took a mere fortnight to complete, and what made this option so enticing for us is that it is not dependent on WAP-enabled devices. The payment mechanism spans the entire population including those who do not have a bank account or credit facilities," says Brian Mollagrean a director of Prism Holdings Ltd.
Van Rensburg believes Fundamo`s open, interoperable architecture will provide vast consumer convenience and "endless opportunities for additional revenue for partners and service providers."
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Fundamo
Fundamo www.fundamo.co.za has developed a mobile payment system for cellphones. Sanlam has backed this initiative with the aim of identifying important new financial services solutions. Fundamo`s focus since inception has been on building a core capability, strong global presence and achieving recognition for its ability to deliver in this leading edge area of business. Fundamo expects to deliver these goals by setting up a local and international certified alliance partner program to take this solution to market.