Orange, Barclaycard roll out mobile payment system across U.K.

Mobile operator Orange and credit services provider Barclaycard introduced a new Near Field Communications-based mobile payments network spanning across 500,000 U.K. merchant locations, enabling subscribers to fund purchases under £15 (about $24) via specially enabled handsets that go on sale today. Orange's new Samsung Tocco Lite device will incorporate Barclaycard's new QuickTouch solution, allowing consumers to complete transactions by waving the phone at a corresponding point-of-sale reader unit--Orange and Barclaycard have introduced the readers to businesses including McDonalds and Pret a Manger.

Orange subscribers can transfer sums of up to £100 (about $162) to their phones to fund their mobile purchases. Barclaycard notes that all QuickTouch transactions are subject to the same 100 percent fraud guarantee as conventional transactions.

Orange and Barclaycard first announced their mobile commerce plans in January. Late last year, Barclaycard was also named as the first issuer on the Isis network, the mobile commerce joint venture established by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA. Isis has since stated it is in talks with other credit card providers and financial institutions and plans to begin trialing its own NFC-enabled services in early-to-mid 2012.

For more:
- read this Financial Times article

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