Nokia Brings Mobile Financial Services to Millions
ESPOO,
today introduced
consumers with mobile device access to basic financial services. For many
consumers, this will be the first time they have had any access to such
financial services.
voice call or sending an SMS. It will enable consumers to send money to
another person just by using the person’s mobile phone number, as well as to
pay merchants for goods and services, pay their utility bills, or recharge
their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up). The services can be accessed 24 hours a
day from anywhere, meaning savings in travel costs and time. Nokia is
building a wide network of
money in or withdraw cash from their accounts.
4 billion mobile phones but only 1.6 billion bank accounts
“We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with
long term growth potential. In many countries, mobile phone ownership
significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone
users have very limited or no access to basic financial services. With more
than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6 billion bank accounts, global
demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to
combine mobile devices with simple but powerful financial services such as
Mobile payments will be the next step for delivering financial services
to hundreds of millions of people, both urban and rural, who are underserved
by existing payment means, especially in emerging economies.
“Rural consumers will particularly benefit from money transfers and, for
urban consumers used to online services, we are enabling services such as
payment of utility bills, purchase of train and movie tickets, top-ups, all
through their mobile phones.
available across different operator networks and on virtually any mobile
phone. This means millions of new consumers will soon be able to manage all
their financial needs from their mobile phone,” said
Head of Corporate Business Development, Nokia.
Building a new ecosystem for mobile payments
The
leader in developing global mobile payment solutions, which Nokia invested in
earlier this year. The service is based on Obopay’s mobile payment platform,
with unique and newly developed mobile elements. Nokia intends the service to
be open and interoperable with other payment services as well.
“Obopay shares Nokia’s vision for bringing mobile financial services to
millions of people worldwide. We’re excited that Nokia has chosen Obopay’s
platform. Nokia’s leading market position, strong brand recognition and
global distribution channel, using the Obopay platform with uniquely
developed mobile elements, means the
to bring the next generation of mobile payment services to the world,” said
between different partners in different markets around the world. It is
designed to work in partnership with mobile network operators and financial
institutions, involving distributors and merchants in a dynamic ecosystem to
seamlessly provide the new services.
“As a result of the innovative partnerships and comprehensive ecosystem
we are forging with the banking and financial industry, as well as leading
network operators, we believe
many who currently have limited or no access to financial services. Uniting
the strengths of the mobile and financial services industries will change the
way people around the world can manage their money in the future,” added
McDowell.
“Mobile financial services present a high growth sector for Nokia.
Nokia’s asset strengths, including consumer brand awareness, distribution
capabilities and global relationships should serve as logical and necessary
extensions to drive innovation in the mobile payments and banking sector. To
be successful Nokia must provide a legitimate bridge between operators, banks
networks and security infrastructure in order to unlock the broad uptake of
mobile financial services,” said
Analyst, Towergroup.
The
on the 2nd and 3rd of
to be rolled out gradually to selected markets, beginning in early 2010.
About Nokia
Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world’s leading
maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different
ways – fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable
people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive
digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services
for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
SOURCE Nokia Corporation