People’s Bank of China sets sights on mobile payments
The People’s Bank of China, China’s largest telecommunications company, has released new technical standards that are meant to govern the proliferation and support of mobile payments. Mobile commerce has been experiencing strong growth in several Asian markets, with much of this growth taking root in China. A growing number of consumers are becoming comfortable with the idea of mobile payments, leading People’s Bank of China to begin seeking ways to expand mobile commerce services throughout the country. In order to do this, People’s Bank of China believes a strong technical infrastructure must first be established.
New standards aim to bring mobile payments into the limelight
According to the People’s Bank of China, only 6% of mobile payments are made through the use of NFC technology. The vast majority of mobile payments are accomplished through simple applications and mobile commerce platforms that are not based on the technology. This makes these applications and platforms more accommodating the China’s population, the majority of which does not have NFC-enabled devices. While NFC may not be a popular mobile payments solution in China, the People’s Bank of China is still showing support for the technology, as is outlined in the organization’s issue of technical standards for the mobile payments sector.
Standards will help support NFC technology
The technical standards are meant to make mobile payments mainstream. These standards provide a structure for the telecommunications and financial services sectors that is necessary to support the promotion and growth of mobile commerce. The standards encourage organizations to adopt NFC technology for the sake of mobile payments, but the People’s Bank of China acknowledges that this technology may not be a popular option. As such, the standards also allow for organizations to promote other forms of mobile commerce technology, as long as these approaches can meet with the bank’s stringent standards.
Organizations find success with alternatives to NFC
China Mobile and China Telecom are the two major players in the country’s mobile commerce field currently. Both of these organizations have opted to use alternatives to NFC technology in order to provide mobile commerce services to consumers. Thus far, the services these companies offer have managed to acquire support from consumers that are interested in mobile payments. These solutions are expected to be changed slightly in order to comply with the standards of the People’s Bank of China.