Mobile network operators are hindering NFC payments, says Mastercard

Jorn Lambert claims the telcos are being 'arrogant' in their approach to NFC payments

Following a few weeks of bad news for NFC payments, Mastercard’s head of emerging payments in Europe, Jorn Lambert, has told The Australian Financial Review that mobile network operators are hindering NFC payments.

Lambert said the secure element which is usually placed in the magnetic stripe on credit cards was the main issue. He commented: “While telcos want to charge banks to store it on SIM cards, financial institutions have claimed this would be too expensive. So therefore you need either [a vendor like] Samsung or the telco, and it’s not a technical impediment but a commercial impediment.”

“The telcos are about to be passed by because the manufacturers have realised they can also install the secure element. Because there are fewer of them, by having deals with Samsung, BlackBerry, Nokia and Apple you’ve covered the world. We’re already starting to see that and the writing is on the wall. The telcos keep on doing the same thing, they get arrogant and then they get disintermediated.”

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