mPay, new mobile payment service

Waroonthep Watcharaporn, Advanced mPAY's managing direc¬tor, said yesterday there would be more compatible phones and SIM cards in the market next year, which would make promoting the service easier.

The contactless system offers mobile phone users a more conven¬ient way of paying for products and services. They just have to swipe their phone over a reader machine at the checkout counter.

True Move introduced its True Touch SIM card, which costs Bt149, in May. The system has around 18,000 users, who can pay for prod¬ucts and services at fastfood restau¬rants, cinemas and grocery stores. True Move aims to have 100,000 True Touch service users by the end of the year.

Yesterday, Advanced mPAY teamed up with wellknown Thai hiphop band Titanium to boost its image.

Titanium fans can register for one of 6,000 free prepaid SIM cards, which can be used to make wireless financial transactions, such as top¬ping up prepaid accounts or buying concert or movie tickets.

Moreover, they can make free unlimited calls within registered groups in the AIS network and pay only Bt1 per minute for calls out AIS groups and Bt1.50 per minute to dif¬ferent networks.

Titanium has around 50,000 local and international fanclub members.

Currently, Advanced mPAY has 30,000 active users per month. Most of them use the service to top up their prepaid call value and pay AIS phone bills.

The service handles 4 million transactions per month with a total value of Bt100 million.

The company is expected to turn¬around next year after posting a Bt70 million loss last year and an expect¬ed loss of Bt30 million this year. It reported revenue of Bt100 million last year and between Bt50 million to Bt60 million for the first six months of 2008.