Firm jointly features NFC roaming coupon service with DoCoMo in Barcelona



By Cho Ji-hyun



KT Corp. announced Tuesday that it will launch the near field communication roaming coupon service for the first time together with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo beginning in April.

Demonstrating the NFC coupon service at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the firm said owners of its NFC mobile phones will be able to download discount coupons by placing their handsets on smart posters or reading the QR codes displayed at the airport shops and department stores in Tokyo.

The coupons will give them free gifts or offer them a discount of up to 8 percent, its officials said.

The service, which aims to unify the NFC platform with overseas telecom service providers, is expected to be expanded into sharing membership and mobile payment functions, according to KT officials.

A total of about 5 million people were using handsets equipped with the NFC chip in Korea last year with the total figure projected to rise to over 20 million next year, company officials said.

The NFC chip is embedded in smartphone models like Samsung’s Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 High Definition and Galaxy Note, Pantech’s Vega Racer and Vega LTE, as well as LG’s Optimus LTE, Optimus LTE Tag and Prada.

“KT will work with NTT DoCoMo to launch diverse cross-border services including coupon and mobile payment between Korea and Japan,” said Yang Hyun-mi, executive vice president and head of the customer strategy business unit. “We will offer more useful services available internationally by partnering with major telecom service providers in other countries.”

With Japan being the first country to feature the NFC roaming coupon service, the country’s largest fixed-line service operator is currently in talks with more than 10 telecom service providers across the world, including those in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Yang said.

“If the year 2011 was a year that marked the beginning of NFC services, this year is to be one where NFC services become a part of our lives,” she said.

The event takes place a year after the two telecoms agreed to jointly release the service at last year’s MWC in Spain. The standardization process for the NFC platforms and linkage of coupon systems needed to be completed ahead of the world’s first demonstration of the NFC roaming service.

Through its cooperation with Japan, KT plans to acquire the know-how to offer the service on globally and gain NFC leadership in the Asian market, its officials said.

The Korean telecom giant also signed an agreement with France top telecom firm Orange at the NFC World Congress in September of last year and it is preparing to go ahead with mobile payment and tourist information offering services within this year, said KT officials.

In a related effort, KT has teamed up with about 50,000 companies nationwide like Lotte Mart, GS 25, GS Caltex and franchisers affiliated with SPC like Dunkin Donuts involving its NFC services in the country.

The company also introduced the Olleh myWallet service in November last year, playing the role of credit card and transportation cards along with other membership cards.

Not only that, it actively took part in the government’s effort to promote the NFC function, jointly going forward with the trial zone for NFC-based mobile payments in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul.

KT also presented NFC-enabled cases for Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S so that they could also use the NFC payment services.

(sharon@heraldcorp.com)