Australia could get NFC payments the right way early next year

Australia could get NFC payments the right way early next year

It is looking like NFC payments may finally be coming to Australia within a few months according to Visa today. Visa’s Country Manager, Vipin Kalra, told AustralianIT in an interview that handset makers and banks had reached a sufficient level of consensus to pave the way for NFC payments in Australia within a few months. What we found interesting about that statement was that MNOs weren’t included, which could show that the NFC payments ecosystem in Australia could look very different to the hierarchy we are seeing here in the United States or over in Europe.

“We’re seeing all the right signs. We see the right level of commitment from all parties to work together and that gives me the confidence that we are now starting to look at more of a co-operative solution rather than building our own thing,” Mr Kalra said.

This statement again shows that NFC stakeholders in NFC payments for Australia are looking at a collaboration model where every spoke of the wheel has its place, and where consumers would ultimately decide which services they choose to use. This was further evidenced when Westpac’s Head of Merchant Acquiring, George Lawson, said that would be a question for customers. “I think the customer will decide what he or she wants,” Mr Lawson said.

What are the obstacles that still need to be overcome for Australia to have NFC payments by January 2012?

At this point, there are still more questions than answers in how the Australian NFC payments industry will take form. What Australia has is a collective will to make NFC payments happen in the short term, and that is a very positive step forward. Who will take what role is still to be hammered out by the industry stakeholders, as is the question of who gets what profit and who owns the customers. This is a natural issue that would come up when you have different industries attempting to build a new NFC payments business model in a complex ecosystem that requires so many industry stake holders to make it work.

Optus’ Managing Director of Small Business, Rohan Ganeson, argued that co-operation between banks and telcos should be tight to preserve customer experience. “I think the challenge in this environment where a financial institution comes into play is who owns the customer,” he said. ”That’s always a question that comes into play and that area is still to be resolved.”

This maybe crazy talk, but wouldn’t it make sense if both owned the customer in their relevant roles? Roles where the industry was flexible and consumers could move away from one of the services and keep another? An example of this is where a consumer changes wireless carrier but keeps their bank, or vice versa. Trusted Service Managers could provision secure apps and data for multiple MNOs throughout the ecosystem. This would allow all NFC payments stake holders to acquire the data they need and would also allow consumers freedom of choice in respect to the services they choose to utilize.

Ganeson also reflected on other countries efforts by saying, “Even in the consortiums in the US they’re still working through to understand ultimately what is the telco going to get out of it and what is a financial institution going to get out of it and what is Google or the like going to get out of it.”

Kalra also conveyed that large Australian merchants, including IGA and Woolworths, had given commitments to install NFC POS terminals in their stores when NFC payments become a reality in Australia.

Let’s hope Australia continues to develop its plans for NFC payments in the method they have started with. Australia may well show the rest of the world how NFC payments should be done as they collaborate rather than war for control like a corporate playground bully.