Person-to-person mobile money transfer service launches in Canada

The electronic or mobile wallet got a major boost this week when EnStream LP formally launched its person-to-person money transfer service, called Zoompass. The company is jointly owned by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. “The Zoompass service ushers in a new era in electronic payments that addresses a growing desire to move money quickly and easily between friends, family and merchants,” EnStream president and CEO Robin Dua said during a press conference. “The launch of Zoompass represents an important milestone toward the realization of the mobile wallet that enables not just money transfers but a broad spectrum of payment services such as electronic ticketing, loyalty and contactless payments, or NFC.” In an interview with Report on Wireless at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto this week, Dua said the Zoompass service is only the first step. “What’s amazing about this announcement is all three carriers are now on a single payments platform for enabling mobile commerce in Canada. We’re starting with mobile money transfers but the vision is we want to enable other types of transactions with this mobile wallet on the phone.” But it will take some time before the mobile wallet becomes a reality. The next step would be enabling contactless payments from mobile handsets. A variety of trials have taken place or are ongoing with wireless operators, major Canadian banks and the credit card companies. Visa announced a trial last year as did MasterCard. Dua noted that discussions with the credit card associations and financial institutions are taking place, but couldn’t offer any details on when these conversations might lead to service launches. “Certainly the launch of Zoompass today adds strong momentum in terms of formalizing a partnership,” he said. “What we were really trying to do with the launch is showcase the capabilities that we’ve built and it makes the discussions a lot more easier to have once everybody in country is able to see the power of what we’ve built.” According to Dua, both the card associations and the banks are “very interested” in the service and want to offer it to their customers. MTS Allstream and SaskTel are notably absent from the ownership of EnStream. When asked why the two Prairie companies were involved, Dua was coy. “Bell, Rogers and Telus represent 95% of the market. They were pioneers in the sense of forming this joint venture and we believe we virtually have all of Canadians able to use the service and we have no plan right now of opening up the network.” He added there are not plans to open the network to, nor initiate discussions with, the two companies or any other of the country’s wireless operators. “We will have discussions with other carriers as the opportunity arises,” Dua told Report on Wireless. Despite not being available to all of Canada’s wireless subscribers, Dua is convinced the service will be a hit with Canadian mobile consumers. “We’ve done some of our customer focus groups and we’ve identified that this is a product that people absolutely will want to use. One it is more accessible than some of the other money transfer options that exist and the fact that you can literally transfer money to somebody regardless of the location you’re in or time of day is really a powerful user experience,” he said. “I think the opportunity is truly unlimited. If you think about the types of transactions that you do everyday whether it’s buying a movie ticket or a transit ticket where time and location actually don’t really matter, these are the types of transactions that we’re hoping to enable with Zoompass.” The service currently works as an application downloaded directly onto an Internet-enabled handset such as a BlackBerry. Versions for the iPhone and Android are coming soon, according to Dua. As well, users can go directly to the zoompass.com website and use it through the browser on their handset. But the service won’t be free as users will be charged a $.50 transaction fee.

Person-to-person mobile money transfer service launches in Canada

News | 06/16/2009 9:02 pm EDT

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