Rumor: China Mobile Returns to 13.56MHz Payment
Shanghai Securities News, 6/01/10
China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) is reportedly calling for a halt to RF-SIM-based mobile payment services in favor of a potential replacement by the 13.56MHz mobile payment technology, which is favored by China UnionPay, China's major banking network.
An industry source revealed that problems with the RF-SIM technology - namely its immaturity, closed standard, and security problems - have been the subject of numerous talks within China Mobile. Another issue is that of cost: procurement costs for RF-SIM cards and point-of-sale (POS) machines could run to the hundreds of millions. A source inside China Mobile also confirmed that RF-SIM has been shelved for at least the next two years, and that trials in other areas will be required to use the 13.56MHz technology.
Editor's Note: China Mobile had suspended trials of the 13.56MHz payment standard in July of last year, and was rumored to be considering shelving contactless payment altogether in March 2010, given the high cost of deployment. Rumors emerged in April that rather than abandoning contactless payment, China Mobile was considering moving forward with both 13.56MHz in addition to the 2.4GHz RFID standard, due to the banking industry's preference for the former.
Keywords: China Mobile wireless contactless payment mobile payment China UnionPay POS CHL RFID 0941.HK RF-SIM Near Field Communication
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