Mobile Money roundup: Zong, Xcellink, O2 and rural India

Zong announces 10 million unique users in 2009; a new rural mobile banking scheme is created by the Indian government; Xcellink secures a Canadian patent to go with its American one; KeyBank goes deeper into mobile banking with Fiserv and O2 Money chooses Mobile Commerce for LBS service.

Zong announces 10 million unique users in 2009

Zong is a mobile payments company that interacts directly with operators. Avoiding credit cards or banks, it lets customers buy virtual currency which they can spend on-line. The price of that currency is added straight to their mobile bill. It’s often used by social networks or gaming sites to let customers buy digital goodies without needing their credit card. Well, the model seems to be working pretty well, because Zong has announced that it has served 10 million unique so far this year alone. It has also announced it will be adding new operator partners in Eastern Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia and South America to go with the 19 countries it already operates in.

Rural mobile banking scheme created in India

The Indian Prime Minister’s Office has tasked the Department of Telecommunications with ensuring that mobile banking is available in even the most remote parts of the country. The scheme won’t be launched until 2012, but the aim is to make sure that the 41% of Indias adult population that doesn’t have a bank account will have access to bank services through the mobile Web.

Xcellink nails Canadian patent, to go with American one

Xcellink didn’t start as a mobile company, and has spent ten years developing secure methods to transfer financial data between customers and merchants. It has spent the last while transfering its patents and licenses into the mobile arena - and has now secured its Canadian patent. The patent is functionally identical to the USA one, and is for an ‘Automated Electronic Funds Transfer System and Method”.

KeyBank goes deeper into mobile banking with Fiserv

KeyBank and Fiserv first announced their partnership back in early August. Fiserv was initially just brought on to provide a mobile banking option for KeyBank customers. It launched a “triple-play” service, meaning that users could access it via SMS, mobile browser or a downloadable app. Evidently the service was liked, because KeyBank has now announced it is deepening the relationship with Fiserv, and the mobile payments company has been chosen to help KeyBank extend its mobility platform into other sections of the company.

O2 Money chooses Mobile Commerce for LBS service

O2 Money is the mobile banking branch of Telefonica’s UK branch. It has announced a deal with Mobile Commerce. The company is a location and mobile content integrator, which will be creating an SMS service for O2 prepaid customers. It will them to use SMS to find the nearest vendor of prepaid cards - all they have to do is text LOAD to a shortcode, and they’ll receive an SMS with the details of the nearest card seller.