Mobile transactions surge 200%

The building of Internet infrastructures and the growing number of Chinese getting access to the Internet through their mobile phones are only part of the reasons behind the adoption of mobile payments in China, said Li Ye, an analyst with Analysys International, a Beijing-based Internet consultancy.

Li said the main reason contributing to the skyrocketing growth of the third-party mobile payment market is that many e-payment companies offered incentives to encourage people to transfer their money or make purchases via mobile devices.

"Many of the Internet giants, such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd, have been making efforts to push users from PC-based payment solutions to mobile-based ones because they see a promising future in mobile Internet. Payments are a gateway to secure as many users as possible in the era of mobile Internet," she said.

Li said conventional banks are lagging behind in mobile payments compared with Internet companies. "Internet companies have built many 'contexts' for people to pay though mobile devices. For example, there are apps for people to buy cinema tickets or book taxis though mobile phones."

"What banks offer right now are exactly the kind of services they offer on their websites," she said, adding that the only opportunities banks have in mobile payment lies in near-field communication technology, which allows customers to use a special mobile phone equipped with specific smartcard wave bands to enable payment by placing a phone near a reader module.

People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Li Dongrong said in an interview in early February China established its first national mobile payment platform using near-field communication technology as part of an effort to boost a modern form of non-cash payment.

The platform, which began trial operations at the end of last year, has already been connected to the mobile payment branches of seven organizations, including China Construction Bank Corp, China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd, China Everbright Bank Co Ltd, China UnionPay and leading telecom operator China Mobile Communications Corp.

Although the People's Bank of China has given strong support to develop near-field-communication-based mobile payments, Wang Weidong, an analyst with iResearch, said there are many hoops to jump through before the technology can compete with the popular Internet-based mobile payment system.

Jiang Xueqing contributed to this story.

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