Cellum launches first Thai mobile wallet

Thailand’s first multifunctional mobile wallet, created by Cellum and Telenor subsidiaries DTAC and PaysBuy, is expected to boost the Thai m-commerce market.

The PaysBuy mobile wallet app allows users to register a Visa or MasterCard payment card and use the wallet to pay phone bills and utilities. Bills come with either a QR code or traditional barcode, and payment will be initiated when those items are scanned. PaysBuy also will enable users to top up prepaid phone cards and over 20 gaming cards, as well as Skype, Google Play and iTunes accounts.

Nearly 30 merchants were supporting the wallet at the time of launch, including one of the country’s largest movie theatre chains. Thousands of online and physical stores will be signing up in the near future, the company says.

“Thailand is a market of nearly 70 million. For every 100 inhabitants there are only 30 Internet connections, but almost 150 mobile subscriptions, moreover, every other user uses a smartphone,” János Kóka, Cellum Global’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “They can now turn their phones into smart wallets. Twenty-million households can use the technology to pay their utility bills and to make purchases in dozens of stores. Later, the app will be accepted at several thousand merchants, as well as for air ticket reservations.”

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