Press Release

ONE now offers the m-payment solution in all of Austria

• Following a successful field test - 100 vending machines with SMS payment solution coming soon
• Secure, simple and convenient: ONE Mobile Shopping based on the MIA standard
• Sophisticated cooperation with Coca Cola and Nokia

In July 2003 ONE extended a highly successful m-payment field test launched about a year ago to all of Austria. Cashless payment via SMS is gradually realised at about a hundred beverage vending machines for the general public. This is the onset for a versatile mobile shopping solution, which ONE has developed over the last couple of months for shopping in the web, via WAP and per SMS. The customer simply pays and without any additional cost with his next ONE service bill. With 1.37 million potential ONE customers, a simple technical integration according to MIA standard (m-Commerce Interface Austria) and the most modern security precautions ONE offers optimum conditions for paying via mobile phone for partners and customers alike.

Cashless payment at the vending machine became real for ONE post-paid customers in mid-July. The fact that the new payment system is highly promising is demonstrated by a joint pilot by ONE, Coca-Cola Beverages Austria GmbH and Nokia Austria GmbH. At ten beverage vending machines in Vienna-based shopping centres, schools and at company locations beverages have been available for sale by SMS since May 2001. The purchasing process only lasts a few seconds, neither codes nor further registrations are necessary and no additional fees are incurred for the end consumer. The result: Much more than 50 % of the beverages acquired by ONE customers are covered by mobile payment. Of particular importance is, above all, as has been proven by statistics that turnover rose significantly during the period of the field test. In the coming months a total of 100 beverage vending machines will follow in all of Austria. The first one to be set up only recently was a beverage vending machine in the Vienna City Hall. ONE CEO Jørgen Bang-Jensen comments: “ONE as an innovative company has recognised the increasing significance of m-payment services and reacted to this trend by developing this mobile shopping solution. We are sure that payment by mobile phone will be successful in future.“

Fast integration, control and payment guarantee for dealers

In order to meet the requirements of dealers, ONE facilitates in cooperation with three other mobile telephony operators (T-Mobile, tele.ring and Drei) an inexpensive and uniform connection to the billing systems of network operators by the M-Commerce Interface Austria (MIA). As eight in ten Austrians already own a mobile phone, the four MIA network operators among themselves have more customers than every other online-enabled payment system in Austria. Existing and future partner companies get access to 3.799 million potential MIA mobile telephony operator customers by cooperating with ONE. Purchasing processes on the Internet, per SMS or WAP for applications such as data base inquiries subject to pay, purchases at vending machines or ticketing system may be quickly implemented based on MIA standard. The customer is securely identified via the SIM card in the customer’s mobile phone and the mobile telephony operator guarantees payment.

Easy to handle and security for the customer

For the post-paid customer mobile payment works without registration – as easy to send as a SMS. Instead of inserting cash, the customer only sends a SMS to the phone number indicated on the vending machine and enters the initial for the wanted beverage (e.g. CL for Coca Cola Light). Subsequently the vending machine releases the product, the customer gets a confirmation SMS and the settlement takes place with the next ONE service bill.

Nokia Head of Marketing Claudia Bayer comments on the Nokia 3510i-branded vending machines: “Mobile services are already used in many ways, above all in the area of entertainment. As mobile payment will pay an important role in the near future, we are delighted to demonstrate with this innovative project how easy mobile methods of payment work.“

Important in the cooperation between ONE, Coca Cola and Nokia are short processing times, which are ensured by a single SMS . The communication to the vending machine is carried out by the VPN-GPRS solution permitting secure and inexpensive data transfer. Moreover, dealers and customers may check their purchases online in the self administration areas.