According to the Budapest Business Journal, leaders of Hungarian mobile network operators held a joint press conference today to express their cooperation on promoting NFC technologies to facilitate mobile payments. Top executives from Magyar Telekom, Telenor Magyarország and Vodafone Magyarország, Hungary's three largest wireless carriers, were present at the press conference organized by the Mobile Wallet Association.

The article quotes Magyar Telekom Chairman and CEO Christopher Mattheisen saying the MNOs will be more likely to succeed in mobile payments if mobile companies team up with banks.

Gy?z? Drozdy, an advisor to the CEO of Telenor Magyarország, said mobile payment technology standards need to be uniform and that service providers should compete for subscribers but not in the area of mobile payemnts, the article says.

The Budapest Business Journal report also notes that representatives from MasterCard and Hungarian loyalty program Szupershop said the number of mobile payment-enabled POS terminals is expected to boom next year.

While calling for cooperation between wireless carriers on mobile payment standards, the Hungarian competitors did not go as far as rivals in other countries where mobile competitors have actually formed joint ventures to promote mobile payments. (For a recent Mobile Payments Today article on how these ventures have fared, please see "Carrier m-payment JVs face challenges.")

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