HybridPayTech, a division of Montreal-based Freeport Capital Inc., will use Vodafone's global machine-to-machine platform to provide connectivity for its mobile payment service, the company announced.

HybridPayTech's service allows businesses to equip mobile employees with smartphones or tablets that can securely process credit and debit card payments globally using Vodafone's network, according to a news release. Allowing businesses to process credit and debit card transactions using standard smartphones and tablets should grow the market for mobile payments dramatically, the company said.

Vodafone will provide global M2M SIM cards, remote device-management tools and highly secure worldwide connectivity for the mobile payment devices.

"The ability to process credit and debit card payments anywhere in the world using a wide variety of standard mobile devices will drastically simplify how companies charge their customers," Massimo Barone, founder and chair of HybridPaytech's Advisory Board, said in the release. "By working with Vodafone ... we [receive] international SIM cards and management tools that make it easy to remotely monitor, repair and update the payment terminals."

Andrew Morawski, head of M2M Americas, Vodafone, said M2M is rapidly transforming a wide variety of industries and a range of applications from connected cars to smart digital billboards. "Companies like HybridPaytech are showing how the technology can also cut the cord on card payments for the first time," he said in the release. "This won't just help mobile businesses — it will give peace of mind to customers who, for example, would rather pay for pizza at the door on a secure card machine [instead of] sharing details over the phone."

According to the company, the fully PCI-DSS compliant service includes mobile applications for Apple, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, which can support credit and debit payments through plug-and-play card-reading equipment. Alternatively, the company said, businesses can use standard mobile payment terminals. The encrypted transactions are sent from the mobile device over Vodafone's network to HybridPaytech's regional switch, which then authorizes the payment through the debit or credit card provider.

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