August 18, 2008, Mobile Payments World

Mobile Payments Project

In a new Russian initiative, ‘the Mobile Payments Project’ has been introduced by the Union of telecommunication market participants (Infocommunication Union) in order to make wireless payment services easily accessible to Russian citizens. The Infocommunication Union is a non-commercial organization supported by the Russian government and largest mobile network operators. It represents the interests and efforts of all stakeholders of the telecommunication market, providing critical knowledge and investments. Interaction among m-commerce market participants is enabled by the Mobile Payments Project framework, where the Infocommunication Union plays a pivotal role of the coordinating centre by broadly introducing m-payment services into the everyday lives of millions of customers. Infocommunication Union claims the main objectives of the Mobile Payments Project are as follows: achievement of coordinated decisions and agreement between the market participants, research and development of technical solutions for m-commerce, formulating suggestions for regulatory policy, and collaborating with international non-commercial organizations regarding mobile payments. The stated objectives will be achieved through trials with suggested technical solutions which facilitate cross-sector interaction of interested market members and help establish the regulatory principals. The executers of this work are scientific and research organizations, mobile operators, and banks. The task of the Infocommunnication Union is to coordinate research, summarize research results, and correlate them with international standards and practice.