Press Release

Mobile payment in ONE Canteen

• M-payment showcase: as of now, ONE employees may use a comfortable and safe cashless payment system

As of this week, ONE offers its employees a new m-payment solution for comfortable, uncomplicated and – most of all – safe cashless payment directly at the point of sale of the firm’s canteen. In this comprehensive showcase with a total of 1,400 participants, ONE tests the newly developed m-payment solution, which allows ONE employees to pay their bill by mobile phone.

Already over one third (37%) of the mobile phone owners queried for a ONE Mobile Telephony Barometer can imagine to use their phone for shopping. ONE CEO Jørgen Bang-Jensen says, “As an innovative and modern company, ONE has recognised the growing importance of m-commerce services and has reacted to this trend by developing the new platform. We are convinced that payment via mobile phone will become generally accepted in the future.” In order to ready m-payment for the market over the next few weeks, the platform is currently tested and optimised in a showcase at the ONE canteen. The market launch of the m-payment platform is scheduled for the first quarter of 2003.

Security through “ownership and knowledge”

In the drafting of this new platform, security and comfort had top priority and all necessary security standards and principles of easy usability were integrated.

The combination of “ownership and knowledge” guarantees that abuse can largely be avoided. Ownership of a mobile phone and a registration for each payment (which is limited in time) as well as the knowledge of the secret personal PIN code are necessary for paying via mobile phone.

Thus, the security gaps of card systems commonly used to date are avoided, where it is usually enough to know the data of the card to be able to pay at the expense of the card owner. “Ownership and knowledge” does not only mean more security for both customers and partner firms, but also strengthens the confidence of users in mobile payment systems, which in turn is essential in making m-commerce acceptable.

Advantages for customers and partner firms

Comfort is very important to mobile phone users. With m-payment, the customer may pay in a simple and cashless manner at the point of sale. It is no longer necessary to bring along small change, and long queues at the checkout belong to the past as well, as payment becomes faster. The customer simply pays the mobile telephony provider for the services consumed.

The ONE platform was developed according to the criteria and standards of MIA (m-Commerce Interface Austria) to make it as easy and efficient as possible for companies to become m-payment partner firms. The MIA standard was set up by a number of Austrian mobile telephony providers, is easy to implement and allows partner firms to offer their products in a fast and inexpensive manner to potential mobile customers.

The ONE Eurest showcase in detail

When queuing in the canteen, the employee sends an empty SMS to a certain number. This registration is necessary for each individual payment and is always valid for a certain period of time only.


At the checkout, employees get to know the amount to be paid and confirm payment by giving the last four digits of their ONE number.


At once they receive a confirmation SMS stating the amount paid.


Settlement is made by monthly direct debiting of the employee’s account, a list of the payments to be made is available any time at the new Intranet system for m-commerce customer self-administration.


There are a number of control functions to avoid abuse: Each registration for payment in the canteen is only valid for five minutes and cannot be detected by anybody else. Whether an employee has made a registration is only checked when the cashier types the last four digits of the respective phone number.



The ONE Eurest showcase has already demonstrated the prospective success of mobile payment systems and the potential of the ONE solution. For even greater user-friendliness, small amounts between € 0.0 1 and € 10.- can be paid via mobile phone without the PIN code. When paying larger sums, the additional inquiry for the PIN code provides maximum security.