Swedish operators to replicate m-payment strategy in Norway, Denmark

Swedish operators Telia, Telenor, Tele2 and 3 are planning to replicate their 4T mobile payment joint venture in Norway and Denmark, where some or all of them are present in the market. The four operators launched 4T in November last year, each owning an equal share in the business. Johan Ragnevad, acting managing director of 4T told Telecoms.com that “there are similar projects between our owners for Norway and Denmark that have not yet come as fas as Sweden. But they are close”.

TeliaSonera and Telenor are both present in Denmark and Norway, while Tele2 is in Norway alone. Hutchison’s 3 has a Danish operation and holds a licence to operate in Norway but has yet to launch.

4T is set to launch commercially in Sweden – under the WyWallet brand – in the summer of this year. Ragnevad cited the high penetration of premium SMS for the purchase of public transport ticketing as one of the reasons why Sweden is well primed for a mobile wallet offering.He added that the firm “hoped” to see the same brand used in Denmark and Norway.

He added that 4T has received a number of enquiries from players in other European markets, but said it was unlikely that the quartet of carriers would look to export their model to markets where they don’t have a presence in the short term.

“Theoretically it is possible and there is nothing to stop us. But if we were to enter another market it would require that the operators there had the same sensibilities in terms of the business, and were prepared to cooperate and separate the business from their existing communications business, as we have done in Sweden.”