StarHub and dollarDEX Partner To Trial Revolutionary Mobile Phone-Based Payment Service
Trials to begin towards the end of this year
23 September 2000, Singapore -- StarHub, Singapore’s new info-communications player, and dollarDEX.com, Asia’s pioneer online financial superstore, today announced a partnership to trial a revolutionary mobile phone-based payment service. This service will enable StarHub mobile phone customers to purchase goods and services showcased over the Internet, in a more secure and convenient manner.
Through this partnership, dollarDex will provide StarHub mobile subscribers the access to register for this mobile phone based-payment service via its website ( www.dollarDEX.com ) and the facility for verification of their online purchases. Users will receive their bills from StarHub for their online purchases they make when this innovative mobile phone-based payment service is commercially available.
StarHub mobile users can purchase goods and services featured on dollarDEX’s website or its partner merchants’ websites. For the trial, dollarDEX has lined up a list of selected merchants whose websites can support this mobile phone-based service.
This innovative mobile phone-based payment concept will redefine the traditional mode of online transactions for goods and services. For the first time, StarHub mobile customers will be able to make online purchases featured on participating merchants’ websites without the need to provide sensitive personal credit card information. With this revolutionary mobile phone based payment service all they need to do is provide their mobile phone number to make a transaction.
When the user keys in their mobile number, this will be transmitted to dollarDEX’s system, which will initiate a phone call from dollarDEX’s Interactive Voice Response to the buyer's mobile number to request for authentication of his purchase entry. The buyer will need to provide his PIN for verification, afterwhich dollarDEX will send a message to both merchant and buyer to validate the transaction.
The security of this mobile phone-based payment concept is similar to that of withdrawing money from an ATM (Automated Teller Machine). The customer inserts his personal bankcard, enters his PIN and gets a validation from the bank before the ATM dispenses cash. In this new mobile phone-based payment scenario, the StarHub SIM card is the equivalent to the customer’s personal ATM card. The customer keys in his PIN and gets a validation from dollarDEX before the merchant delivers the goods or services to him, or the customer can also choose to pick up his purchase at the merchants’ premises.
The main benefits for StarHub mobile phone customers are greater convenience and peace of mind, as this mobile phone-payment concept is a relatively more secure method to pay for their online purchases compared to revealing their credit card numbers over the Net. They also have the added flexibility to make online purchases even if they do not possess a credit card.
Said Mr Wee Way Kiat, General Manager, Mobility, StarHub, "Payment for products and services through non-traditional and non-cash means is always a challenge. Likewise, using the mobile phone to make and pay for purchases, require several criteria to be addressed such as security, authentication, ease of use and peace of mind for the buyer and seller. We believe that this tie-up with dollarDEX will enable us to make m-commerce for our mobile customers a reality. This is a demonstration of StarHub’s continued commitment to bring convenience and innovation to our subscribers."
Mr. Richard Lai, CEO of dollarDEX, said: "We are very pleased to have StarHub as the pioneer for a mobile phone-based payment service in Singapore. We believe the man-years of developing the technology has made it more secure and easier to use than the current state of the art. Consumers no longer have to worry about their credit card numbers being misused on the Internet and merchants can authenticate the card numbers coming through their web services. The revolution is in achieving these twin benefits for consumers and merchants with just the humble mobile phone, without additional investments. By helping telcos offer more value-added services to their mobile subscriber bases, the dollarDEX technology becomes the key that can unleash tremendous value heretofore untapped within telcos."
This mobile phone-based payment trial starts towards the end of the year and will be launched commercially soon after.
