Indian telecom operator Tata Docomo will trial Near Field Communications based mobile payments in Hyderabad, in partnership with XIUS. Initially on offer will be operator based services like mobile phone top-up (expectedly), as well as content like ringtones and wallpapers. Tata Docomo will use the NFC based payments to increase its retail points of presence, and expand the availability of services to coffee shops and most interestingly, through "self-service Active Posters". Active Posters are paper-thin-self-service terminals, and glass touch sensing, enabling as many as 18 retail touch points at any customer gathering point. However, what's worth noting is that Xius had done a trial with Bharti Airtel in 2008, and nothing came of it, so hold your horses - this is just a trial. Our take on the trial - Operator led: I'd have expected a handset manufacturer, if not a VAS company, to trial an off-deck mode of payment like NFC - they need it more than telecom operators, which currently provide the primary mode of payment for mobile services, through pre-paid cards. - Another operator planning to go retail: the opportunity here for Tata Docomo is to build out a retail payments infrastructure that goes beyond just telecom payments. Airtel Money is extremely promising, but there's a complicated process involved for enabling payments. This is where NFC's one touch authentication will work. - Content downloads: is there really a business case to be made for off-deck content downloads? There might be takers for ad-supported free content, but anything that is…
