Ukraine's Alfa Bank is partnering with telco Kyivstar to pilot the country's first mobile contactless payments system.
Kyivstar, the Ukrainian business unit of VimpelCom Ltd, has a total customer base of over 25 million subscribers. It has contracted with Gemalto for the supply of the French firm's UpTeq multi-tenant SIM embedded software and product.
The mobile operator says the pilot with Alfa Bank paves the way for a full commercial launch of NFC mobile payments across Ukraine. The service will enable subscribers to tap and go at an estimated 22,000 contactless terminals in retailers nationwide.
Philippe Cambriel, Gemalto president for Europe, Mediterranean and CIS, says: "With the boom in contactless equipment at the point of sale in the country, this is the perfect timing for mobile payment introduction."
The latest development comes two years after the vendor won a contract to distribute its Optelio NFC stickers through PrivatBank's Ukrainian branch network and at high street retail outlets