Take Advantage Of 5G, Verizon And Mastercard Cooperate In Contactless Payment

JAKARTA - Verizon Business (VZ.N) on Tuesday, July 13, signed an agreement with Mastercard Inc (MA.N) to use 5G technology and wireless technology for contactless payments and provide autonomous checkout services for retail stores.

Telecom operators like Verizon are now seeking to expand into new businesses ranging from robotics to fintech companies that they think will benefit from the increasing adoption of 5G technology.

Verizon Business' partnership with Mastercard aims to leverage 5G mobile phones and short-range communication technology (NFC) for merchants to accept customer payments without the need for a point-of-sale (POS) terminal.

The company also plans to use computer vision technology and cloud computing to provide automated payments in unattended retail stores. This is similar to what Amazon (AMZN.O) did with the Go store.

The Go concept has not yet been widely adopted, with only 29 stores so far, which Verizon Business' head of revenue, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, attributes to the high costs involved in implementing the technology.

"Verizon Business, has a primary goal of achieving a significant reduction in these costs," said Sampath. “The company is also working with retail technology specialist AiFi to use computer vision and artificial intelligence to create an autonomous shopping experience.”

"Between MasterCard, AiFi, and us, we have everything we need," Sampath said without revealing any financial details.

He did not indicate when the technology would be available to retailers but said most of the action would be in North America.