Europe: Deutsche Telekom launches mobile wallet in Germany

Deutsche Telekom has begun a quest to convince its cash-loving countrymen to accept mobile payment. The carrier this week launched MyWallet in Germany, allowing its customers to make purchases with their smartphones―and the offer included a sweetner, an introductory bonus of up to €40 for customers who sign up for the associated MyWalletCard.
The carrier chose Bonn, its headquarters, as the  flagship city for the launch, and Bonn currently boasts 1,000 digital wallet acceptance points. DT said it will introduce the solution in Slovakia by mid-May and in Hungary later this year.
“In the future, our customers will not only use their digital wallets to make easy, secure payments, but also store concert tickets, membership cards or bonus points,” says Michael Hagspihl, director of marketing at Telekom Deutschland.
The digital wallet can be downloaded as a free app, and it can be used with 18 smartphone models. Customers also need an NFC-enabled SIM card to use the digital wallet. Existing customers can order the card free of charge, and the carrier will start shipping the cards with every new smartphone.
DT will face competition in the European mobile payments market. In December, Vodafone, the largest carrier in Europe, launched its m-payment system in Spain and Germany. The London-based carrier plans to roll it out across Europe, including in the United Kingdom and Italy.
In other DT news, the carrier agreed to raise the wages of 20,000 IT employees at T-Systems by at total of 3.5% over two years. Labor unions had asked for a 5.5% raise over the course of one year. The German-based carrier has planned to cut 4,900 jobs in the country by the end of 2015. As part of the new deal, DT agreed to protect the IT workers from job cuts for two years after those reductions are completed.
More telecom news from Europe:
Report: Bouygues and SFR eyeing Virgin Mobile. According to the French newspaper Les Echoes, France’s No. 3 carrier, Bouygues, and No. 2 carrier, SFR, are both considering offers for mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile. It’s estimated worth is $418 million.
Telefónica buys a controlling stake in Prisa’s pay TV for $1.01 billion. The Madrid-based carrier is acquiring 56% of Distribuidora de Television Digital SA from Prisa to expand its TV services in Spain.
Orange reports theft of personal data from 1.3 million users. In the second breach in three months, the leading French telecom group said the compromised data included telephone numbers, dates of births and e-mail addresses.
Telenor’s Q1 earnings exceed expectations. The Norwegian telecom posted $1.57 billion in first quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a 10% increase.
Senior management changes at TeliaSonora. Henriette Wendt has been named head of group corporate development at Stockholm-based TeliaSonora. Wendt is leaving Swisscom, where she is the head of corporate strategy and participation management. Also, Ingrid Stenmark has been appointed head of the CEO office which handles the carrier’s shareholdings in the associate companies MegaFon and Turkcell, among other things.
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