DOCOMO and KT have been exploring opportunities for cross-border mobile services using smartphones since February 2011. Efforts have focused on developing common specifications for mutual devices, networks and billing platforms, working through a joint Business & Technology Cooperation Committee established in 2005. The new service would be a practical commercial outcome of this initiative.
The agreement was reached together with eB Card, a LOTTE affiliated South Korean prepaid e-money service provider that developed Cashbee in August 2010. Cashbee is available at some 52,000 locations in LOTTE Group department stores, convenience stores and mass transportation facilities such as subways and buses. The service currently has 5 million users.
DOCOMO and KT are set to jointly deploy a new system to enable this and other cross-border NFC services between their two countries by the end of the first half of fiscal 2013 ending in March 2014. Going forward, they will consider the deployment of other NFC-based cross-border services, such as mobile payments, promotional coupons and mass-transit ticketing.
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