U.S. Shoppers To Make 5G Autonomous Payments Soon
- By CDOTrends editors
- July 20, 2021
Payments company Mastercard has announced an alliance with U.S. telco Verizon to use 5G technology to improve the shopping experience and payments.
The two companies will collaborate on technology that uses 5G to power autonomous checkouts across diverse in-store and online channels, including IoT.
The collaboration will move many hardware-based transactions into the cloud, enabling faster and more immersive commerce that will be available to small businesses along with major brands.
Partnering with Verizon gives Mastercard early leadership in this area, with many mainstream US banks still yet to decide on any 5G strategies.
At a conference on future technology in May sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach described how 5G technology combined with AI could deliver a “hyperpersonalized” purchasing experience in retail, entertainment, and healthcare.
Verizon will begin working with Mastercard at the payment network’s tech hub in New York City to test 5G for “mobile edge computing” and autonomous checkout. It will include automatic home door unlocking, voice and video ordering, and walk-in/walk-out shopping in different types of environments, and the company’s joint press release.
“Through this collaboration, Mastercard and Verizon’s platforms, which connect billions of customers, businesses, banks, and governments around the world, will be a force in driving transformational change,” Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard’s president of North America, said in the release.
Verizon will also join Mastercard’s Bill Payment Exchange to digitize Verizon customers’ bill payments as part of the partnership. Verizon will be able to access the fraud tools of Mastercard’s Ethoca subsidiary to make Verizon bill payments more secure, the release said.
“Coupling Verizon’s leading global IP network and transformative 5G technology with Mastercard’s deep industry expertise, leading service and solutions, and a strong commitment to innovate, is a partnership that aligns perfectly with what we are striving to achieve at Verizon,” Sampath Sowmyanarayan, Verizon’s chief revenue officer, said in the press release.
Verizon is rolling out a 5G service that covers more than 230 million U.S. consumers and tens of thousands of businesses, with plans to reach more by the end of this year.
Image credit: iStockphoto/Jose Jonathan Heres