Commuters in Russian city of Kazan can use NFC to pay
Who says carriers can't work together to make mobile payments work. A group of Russian mobile network operators are doing just that, bringing NFC to transport in the Russian city of Kazan.
According to NFC World, carriers MTS, MegaFon, Vimpelcom and Rostelecom have launched a service in Kazan that lets users tap their phones on tills on trains and buses to pay their fares. The MNOs are working with Transport Card and GSM Association, the international wireless association.
Subscribers can now pay for travel on the metro as well as on-ground public transportation with a tap of their mobile phone. To use the Mobile Ticket service, users need to purchase a starter kit containing a special NFC SIM card that supports the service.
To use the service, subscribers must first obtain a special SIM chip for their NFC-enabled phones. Customers with phones that don't support NFC can use an NFC antenna attachment sold at the retail outlets of the carriers.
Payment is made using a prepaid account associated with the mobile account and managed by the customer's carrier. The account is topped up automatically whenever the account reaches a minimum balance, the post said. There are no additional fees to participate.
Kazan is the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan and is home to more than 1.1 million citizens. It's Russia's eighth-largest city.
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