LG Uplus, South Korea’s smallest mobile carrier, plans to add a wire transfer service to its mobile payment tool as it tries to tighten its grip on the market against new rival Daum Kakao.

The mobile carrier is pushing to complement Paynow, its mobile payment app currently limited to paying bills at a member store by tapping a cellphone onto the reader.

The upgraded version of Paynow will allow an individual to send money to another person, with the tool to be further developed into having a full mobile banking service in the future, LG Uplus said.

It has yet to decide the exact date for its launch, the company added.

LG Uplus’ move came as a way to counter the latest mobile transaction app created by Daum Kakao, the operator of Korea’s most popular messaging app KakaoTalk.

In a joint move with 12 local banks, Daum Kakao debuted BankWalletKakao on Tuesday.

It provides both remittance and payment via KakaoTalk within the amount of so-called bank money “recharged to the handset,” to which the market has reacted positively.

Analysts said the launch of BankWalletKakao may come as a threat to LG Uplus and other mobile carriers including SK Telecom and KT who already have their own mobile transaction app but failed to gain enough competitive edge mainly due to a lack of accessibility and convenience.

Kakao’s mobile wallet has a greater chance of winning against its rivals in that aspect since its flagship KakaoTalk has 37 million active users and BankWalletKakao can only be used through the messaging platform.

LG Uplus said Paynow has an advantage over Kakao’s mobile wallet with about 100,000 affiliated stores that offer the mobile payment to customers.

“We’re in touch with social commerce sites to add our system to their payment, which will likely be ready by the end of this year,” a LG Uplus official said. (Yonhap)