Vodafone teams up with Visa and Carta Worldwide to offer contactless payments to Android mobile users

Vodafone is getting into the business of contactless payments by allowing its customers to add bank cards to their digital wallets in the coming months it ann­ounced yesterday.

The telecoms giant has teamed up with Visa and Carta Worldwide to allow European customers with Android smartphones to pay for services at contactless pay points via their mobile.

Customers will require a Vodafone sim as well as the Vodafone Wallet app to use the new function, which will also allow them to keep a record of their transaction history.

The new feature is an evolution from Vodafone’s SmartPass which it launched with Visa in 2013, allowing customers to use contactless but only after money was added to an account. Furthermore, Smart­Pass required the use of an external “tag” which had to be fitted to the phone.

In addition, the mobile company an­nounced the appointment of Mathias Dopfner as a non-executive director from 1 April. Dopfner is chairman and chief exec of German media group Axel Springer.