MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Telefonica’s “mWallet” to Enable Mobile Payments in South America, Europe

Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica and Sybase 365, a division of German software firm SAP, reportedly are developing mWallet, a mobile wallet that will “allow Telefonica’s 300 million customers in 26 countries around the world make mobile financial transactions.” The mWallet will enable “payments and peer-to-peer money transfers and will also store prepaid, debit, credit and loyalty cards.” The mWallet is slated to be available to European and South American Telefonica customers by June 2012 [1].

By Brendan Millan, Research Associate

About Telefonica: Founded in 1924, Telefonica is a Spanish telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. As of 2010, Telefonica has total assets of EUR 130 billion (USD 171 billion), total equity of EUR 31.7 billion (USD 41.7 billion), approximately 270,000 employees and 300 million customers.

About Sybase 365: Found in 1984, Sybase 365 is a US-based enterprise software and services company. Sybase 365 is a subsidiary of the German software corporation SAP. As of 2011, SAP has total assets of EUR 23.3 billion (USD 30.6 billion), total equity of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 16.7 billion) and approximately 55,000 employees.

Sources and Resources:

[1] Bank Systems & Technology: “Sybase and Telefonica AnnounceMobileWallet.”, http://www.banktech.com/payments-cards/232600803

MicroCapital.org Article, January 24, 2012, “‘Mobile Money: Connected America’ to be Held in Mexico City, March 26 – March 29 2012”, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-event-mobile-money-connected-americas-to-be-held-in-mexico-city-march-26-march-29-2012/

MicroCapital.org Article, April 3, 2009, “IDB and Fundacion Telefonica Present Report on Mobile Communications and Access to Financial Services in Latin America and the Carribbean”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-story-idb-and-fundacion-telefonica-present-report-on-mobile-communications-and-access-to-financial-services-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/

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