Mobile money transfer service WING is preparing to launch a mobile wallet service later this year, and ACLEDA Unity is preparing to expand its own mobile services, enabling people to quickly pay for things just by touching their phone to a point-of-sale terminal.
Near-field communications (NFC) technology will be the next addition to WING’s mobile platform to be used for smaller payments, such as purchasing a cup of coffee, as the company tests the service later this year, according to WING chief operations officer Anthony Perkins.
“What we really want to tackle here is near-field communication like the Oyster Card in London or similar services offered in Japan and Australia,” he said. …
Gregory Pellechi
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071257365/Business/mobile-phones-could-replace-credit-cards.html
Mobile payment company Wing was in talks on partnering with a US technology firm that plans to assemble Android tablets in Cambodia, in what could be another step away from the country’s staple manufactured good – garments.
Although a final partnership agreement had yet to made with Wing, prospects for Cambodia’s first electronics assembly factory “looked very positive”, Wing chief executive Ian Watson said yesterday.
“We’re looking for additional ways to compliment our mobile money system,” he said, adding that Wing would not market the devices.
Like the Ford cars assembled in a Sihanoukville plant that launched in late March, the Android tablets would be marketed to Cambodians…
Don Weinland
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050355945/Business/talks-on-for-cambodian-tablet.html
Digital cash services in Cambodia showed marked increases in users and cash flow in 2011, and still more growth is expected this year as operators launch new services and partnerships to capture a large but still-untapped rural market.
The services, in which customers transfer money via their mobile phones, have in a few short years formed a fledgling market in the Kingdom with about 400,000 users, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, which has a partnership with domestic conglomerate Royal Group in ANZ Royal Bank, established WING in Cambodia in 2009.
ACLEDA Bank’s Unity hit the market in 2010, followed by CamGSM’s Cellcard Cash last year. CamGSM is owned by Royal Group. Unity, which now requires users to hold an ACLEDA account, saw a 547 per cent increase in cash flow in 2011, with more than $64 million in total transactions, according to ACLEDA senior vice president for marketing Sok Sophea. The bank expects its more than 50,000 users to double this year, Sok Sophea said.
Next month, ACLEDA will allow mobile money accounts for people who don’t have bank accounts, she said. …
Don Weinland, P.9
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030654867/Business/mobile-cash-gaining-traction.html
Refresh Mobile yesterday announced the purchase of mobile banking outfit WING from Australia’s ANZ, although the amount of the deal was not released.
WING will join Refresh’s stable of electronic payment and cell phone top-up services, in addition to soon offering overseas mobile remittance capabilities, Refresh executive director Ian Watson said yesterday.
He added that WING had appealed to Cambodians without bank accounts, who represented the vast majority of the population. “Our plan is to bank the unbankable,” he said. “We want to be the partner of choice for all consumers in Cambodia.”…
Don Weinland, p.1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011111752801/Business/refresh-mobile-buys-wing.html
