Payment solutions provider Visa has alleged that its mobile payments service has been restrained by Indian telcos, reports The Economic Times. While the company hasn't mentioned any specific telecom operator, Visa has alleged that telcos have selectively offered USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) service to a few banks while they have refused the same service to Visa since its mobile payments service competes with Bharti Airtel's Airtel Money and Vodafone's m-Paisa service, as indicated by the report. Visa-Monitise JV In May 2010, Visa had setup a joint venture with the UK based mobile payments solutions provider Monitise for the Indian market called Movida. Through this venture, the companies were providing a technology platform for financial institutions and mobile network operators in India, to offer services such as banking, bill payments, mass transit ticketing, mobile top-up and others to consumers. In February 2012, Movida had inked an agreement with HDFC Bank to introduce an USSD-based mobile payments service. The new service was expected to allow HDFC Bank customers to pay bills, top up prepaid airtime and buy tickets from their mobile phones, and was expected to be available across all mobile networks using any Visa or non-Visa branded payment account. The company had stated that the service was initially being offered to select customers who were able to link their HDFC Bank cards to their mobile phone numbers, with plans to roll out the service across the country later in the year. Speaking to the publication, Visa's group country manager for India and South Asia, Uttam Nayak however…
