According to a report from Reuters, the group intends to improve infrastructure that can support the system. It hopes to establish a payment scanner called QUICPay using a Sony chip.
Members of the group include mobile operators KDDI and Vodafone Japan, and issuers Mastercard International Japan and UFJ Nikos. The consortium hopes that the system will drive uptake of credit transactions in Japan – at present less than 10% of payments are made by credit card.
The mobile wallet system is already being offered by Japan’s largest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, but all the country’s operators should have the system available on their handsets by the end of the year.
