Orange and Visa Europe are trialling contactless Orange Cash in two cities in France using NFC-enabled SIM cards
Orange customers that have an NFC handset will have to download the Cash app and then top up their account to start using the service. For payments over €20, users will be asked for the PIN number chosen when setting up their account. People can also use the app for peer-to-peer payments.
The companies say that the number of contactless terminals in France has grown by 50 per cent in the last six months, reaching 200,000. The service will go live early next year in Strasbourg and Caen before a full rollout across the country in the second half of 2014.
“Paying with your smartphone is a new function which will take off due to its practicality in everyday life,” said Thierry Millet, VP of mobile payments and NFC at Orange. “By launching Orange Cash, we want to accelerate the adoption of mobile payment generally and, of course, among our customers via a simple and secured solution, which offers many advantages.”
