SaskTel and MTS customers with compatible smartphones can now make mobile payments via a partnership with TD Bank. The process will be powered by EnStream, the joint venture from Bell, Rogers and TELUS for mobile payments.
These mobile payments are based on NFC-SIM cards that will work only on the following devices, for SaskTel and MTS users that are also TD customers:
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
Samsung Galaxy Mega
Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung Galaxy S3Sony Xperia Z3
Sony Xperia Z2
Sony Xperia Z1
HTC One (M8)
HTC One (M7)
LG G3
LG G2
BlackBerry Bold 9900
Last year, TD Bank was the first to launch NFC mobile payments with Rogers, TELUS and Bell.
Despite the ‘Big 3’ and now MTS and SaskTel offering mobile payments, adoption of the latter remains relatively unpopular in Canada. Why? For starters, customers require a specific bank and smartphone to support mobile payments, using their credit cards.
Here are SaskTel’s Mobile Payments requirements:
To use SaskTel Mobile Payments, you need:
- A SaskTel NFC SIM card
- A mobile payment app
- One of the NFC-capable devices listed below (must be supported by your financial institution) with the NFC feature turned on.
The barrier to entry into this mobile payment solution does take some extra steps, unlike Apple Pay, where you just add your supported credit card to your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and off you go.
Also, with nearly 40 percent of smartphone users in Canada with an iPhone (according to comScore data), those with newer iPhone 6 models are probably eagerly awaiting Apple Pay to launch here, rumoured for November of this year.
