APPROVED: Three out of four users have recommended the MobilTarca wallet to friends

Participants in The Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association’s MobilTarca NFC pilot made 41,000 payments valued at more than 120 million HUF (US$525,000) during the first 12 months of the trial, the association has revealed. Users also conducted more than 4,000 loyalty point transactions.

Some 86% of the testers would use the wallet in the commercial phase and 87% would also consider wallet compatibility when buying their next smartphone, a June survey conducted by BellResearch found. Three out of four users have recommended the MobilTarca wallet to their friends and, overall, some 350,000 to 400,000 consumers would be open to making use of the service when it is commercially launched, the association reports.

Formed in July 2011 by mobile network operators Magyar Telekom, Vodafone and Telenor, with MasterCard, OTP Bank and SuperShop, the MobilTarca pilot was launched in July 2013.

During the test period, participants could upload five NFC services to their wallet — OTP Bank’s MasterCard Mobile PayPass payment card, SuperShop’s NFC loyalty card, a sports facility access card, event tickets provided by InterTicket, employee ID cards and limited edition public transport cards for the city of Szolnok.

“Global market trends and the direct feedback from the pilot clearly show that the wallet is more than just an innovative payment tool,” the association says. “The pilot users said they highly appreciated the additional card functionalities like balance inquiry and transaction history, but they would also welcome more services providing added value, such as personalised offers and location based promotions.”

“Currently we are working with all our strengths on the commercial rollout,” says Gábor Pukler, president of the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association.