Vodafone and PayPal partner on contactless payments

hands holding iphone mobile banking

Barclays got in on the act, as did Orange, not to mention Apple, Samsung and Google – now Vodafone’s UK customers can make contactless payments after the telco company partnered with PayPal.

Live from this week, Vodafone’s British customers can link their PayPal accounts to Vodafone Pay and make NFC payments on Android smartphones at over 400,000 locations around the country. The payment service will also work on Transport for London’s network.

Purchases of up to £30 can be made at any contactless terminal and users wishing to spend more can do so using Vodafone Pay at participating retailers through the use of a PIN.

As well as using PayPal, customers can add their MasterCard or Visa credit/debit cards to Vodafone’s payment service, meaning they no longer have to use plastic cards.

What makes this partnership interesting is that Vodafone Pay doesn’t even need the phone to be on to work. When the phone is switched off or out of battery life, the contactless SIM can contact automatically to the contactless terminal to make the transaction. The SIM card has to be contactless-enabled of course.

Rob Harper, Director of Mobile Commerce, PayPal said:

“Money is going digital, and the smartphone is at the centre of this transformation. Mobile payments have long been at the heart of what we do. In fact, this year marks 10 years since we first launched a mobile payment service in the UK. As mobile technology continues to evolve, we will continue to look at new ways to make it easier and faster for our customers to pay.”

Related reading