Russia’s leading mobile operator launches the region’s first SIM-based NFC payment system across public transport network
Earlier this week, Mobile TeleSystem (MTS) became the first operator in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to launch a mobile payments system on a public transport network. The launch took place in the Russian City of Novosibirsk.
1.Working in partnership with the ‘Golden Crown’ – a Russian payment system that provides cash and cashless payment services, MTS announced the commercial launch of ‘Mobile Ticket’ which will allow its customers to pay for travel in Novosibirsk by tapping their mobile phone at turnstiles and terminals across the network. This will eliminate queues at the ticket office, increase the overall performance of the transport infrastructure and result in less delays. ‘Mobile Ticket’ is the next stage in the development of electronic passes across the transport system and will provide an innovative service to passengers. Electronic transport cards have been used by the citizens of Novosibirsk for a number of years, with over 1,070 buses and trains already sporting NFC pass capabilities – representing 96% of the vehicles in the city.
Dmitriy Panfilov, Director of Financial services at MTS said: “We hope that the NFC service in Novosibirsk will become a basis for the introduction of similar scale transport projects across Russia. By the end of 2013 we will launch similar projects across several cities. Whilst it may take a number of years, I am certain that payments from mobile phones across public transport will become as commonplace as it is today with electronic card payments.”
2. The Director of Payment Systems at the Golden Crown, Alexander Grishin added: “We are pleased that, together with our partner (MTS), we can offer citizens a more modern and advanced way to conveniently pay for travel on public transport that is quick and easy. Utilizing NFC technology in this way is still evolving, but there is no doubt that NFC will become the future of mobile services.”
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MTS is actively encouraging its customers to adopt NFC technology with ‘Mobile Ticket’ becoming the fourth commercial NFC launch by the operator:
· In May 2012, MTS collaborated with MasterCard to launch Russia’s first NFC SIM-card based on MasterCard’s PayPass. In Russia today there are over 30,000 payment points for PayPass across various retail chains, gas stations and cafes.
· In December 2011, MTS launched NFC services in the major Russian city of Perm, which allowed consumers to use their phones when buying food and drink across UVENCO vending machines
· In October 2011, MTS launched NFC payments at LUKOIL gas stations, again in the city of Perm – incidentally this was Russia’s first system to receive contactless payments in retail
Novosibirsk is the second city to introduce NFC payments on travel systems, the first was Nice in 2010.
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