NTT DoCoMo partnered with MasterCard on the commercial launch of iD/PayPass-branded payments via DoCoMo’s iD mobile credit payment system.
The firms said the launch opens up some 1.2 million MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations in over 50 countries to iD users beginning February next year.
Payments with iD/PayPass will be available to DoCoMo subscribers using smartphones equipped with a contactless chip for Osaifu-Keitai (mobile phones with wallet functions) via near field communication.
Current iD users can tap their smartphone over a reader device to make payments at MasterCard PayPass affiliate merchants outside Japan using either local currency or yen, eliminating the need to carry cash in an unfamiliar local currency.
In Japan, DoCoMo subscribers will be able to use its proprietary iD system for mobile credit payments via some 500,000 iD reader devices offered by affiliate merchants.