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PayPal, Vivo launch Brazilian mobile payment service

PayPal has taken its partnership with Brazilian telecommunication company Vivo to the next level. The companies announced a partnership aimed at creating a mobile payment solution last year, and now that plan has come to fruition.

On the PayPal blog, Mario Mello, head of Latin America for PayPal, said the companies are now live with a mobile platform that eliminates the need for Internet connection to complete payments.

"Similar to SMS technology, not only can consumers send and receive mobile payments, but they can now add money to their prepaid mobile service directly, without the need to access the Web," Mello said in his post. "In a country where more than 80 percent of cellphone owners use a prepaid service and only 15 percent have smartphones, this technology demonstrates how innovative technology can change the way that millions of people experience payments."

Additionally, the new mobile payment model lets consumers with any mobile device make a payment, not just thouse carrying a smartphone.

Developments like the new mobile payment solution in Brazil show how PayPal’s open platform can be used to partner with market leaders to make PayPal accessible to consumers, making payments easier every day no matter where consumers are, Mello said.

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