China Mobile Chooses 2.4GHz Mobile Payment Standard
CCTime, 7/30/09
China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) has suspended trials of a 13.56MHz mobile payment standard, instead turning its full efforts on expansion of a competing 2.4GHz standard. Mobile communications frequencies are relatively close to 2.4GHz, meaning handsets would require hardly any modifications, and the increased bandwidth capacity could support a variety of wireless value-added services. The proposal, however, is still undeveloped, with China Mobile's biggest hurdle being the fact that most domestic POS terminals operate at 13.56MHz and are incompatible with 2.4GHz. Mobile payment currently uses three major technological standards. The first is Near Field Communication (NFC), which requires an NFC-capable handset; Simpass, which is the widely used 13.56MHz standard; and the 2.4GHz RFID-SIM system. Industry insiders say that China Mobile tested both Simpass and RFID-SIM in the early stages of commercial trials, while China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) conducted trials for all three but focused primarily on Simpass.
Keywords: Simpass 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH bandwidth China Mobile China Unicom CHL CHU mobile payment Near Field Communication POS RFID standard wireless contactless payment handset spectrum WVAS commercial trial
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