Vodafone to launch NFC mobile wallet across Europe

Vodafone to launch NFC mobile wallet across Europe: Mobile network operator Vodafone’s NFC mobile wallet is going live today in Spain, will be available in Germany in mid-December and expand to the Netherlands, UK and Italy in spring 2014. Vodafone Wallet works with a range of NFC phones as well as with NFC tags that can be used by customers with other smartphones and feature phones.

“Vodafone’s mobile wallet is the first European mobile payment service built on the GlobalPlatform open standard,” the carrier says, “which makes it easy for organisations, including banks, retailers and transport companies to host services in the wallet.

“The Vodafone Wallet allows customers to leave their cards and coins at home and manage their daily transactions efficiently and securely using their smartphone,” Vodafone says. “In addition to enabling customers to pay for everyday goods, the Vodafone Wallet will also be able to hold travel cards, loyalty cards, gift cards and vouchers, complementing and over time replacing the plastic cards in a customer’s wallet or purse.”

The first mobile payment app available in the Vodafone Wallet is Vodafone SmartPass, a prepaid account delivered in partnership with Visa. “Vodafone SmartPass can be funded when needed and enables customers to pay for goods with their smartphone at any Visa contactless payment terminal in retailers around the world, including more than 1.2m in Europe,” the carrier says.