Turkey’s Top Telco Plans Major NFC Push in 2012, but Faces Challenges

Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell, is targeting 2012 for a major expansion of its NFC rollout, as it seeks to establish itself as a top-tier telco globally promoting NFC technology.

The carrier this week announced that a third bank, Akbank, is issuing a payment application for its NFC mobile wallet. Akbank joins Yapı Kredi and Garanti Bank with contactless credit applications in the mobile wallet, all supporting MasterCard PayPass. This makes the Turkcell NFC wallet the only one outside of South Korea to offer more than one payment application from a financial institution.

The telco, which is one of the most aggressive globally in its NFC ambitions, faces a number of challenges to expand in 2012, however, including dealing with the fractured situation at the retail point of sale in Turkey and high prices for NFC-enbled SIM cards.

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