Buyster - New joint venture delivers Internet payment by mobile

Paris - Atos Origin, Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR have formed a new joint venture (JV) company to launch an innovative payment solution. The new solution is being backed by major online retailers in France, including Aquarelle, Brandalley, Darty and Rue du Commerce.

Buyster is an innovative, simple, fast and secure remote payment solution for fixed and mobile Internet purchases, which will be available in France from mid-2011. Against a backdrop of sustained growth in eCommerce and an increase in purchases being made from new types of screen, including smartphones and touchscreen devices, the three French mobile operators (Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR) and Atos Origin, through Atos Worldline, a European leader in electronic transactions and secure payments, are bringing together their expertise in telecoms and payment to launch this new solution.

A new payment institution born from the association of three French cell phone operators and the leading company in electronic payments in Europe

The JV has been created against the background of the Single European Payment Area and, in particular, the Payment Services Directive (PSD), which provides the legal foundation for the creation of an EU-wide single market for payment. The regulatory environment is supportive of new players entering the payment market and the partners behind Buyster believe that their combination of mobile communications and eCommerce expertise will present a very strong offer to consumers and online merchant alike.

The aim of the company, whose payment institution licence is still being requested from the Banque de France, is to develop, operate and market the Buyster payment facility in France.

* The Buyster service will be offered through the JV’s mobile telephony partners, which together account for over 50 million consumers.
* Buyster will be targeting the new payment solution at online merchants, capitalizing on the strong market presence and extensive eCommerce knowledge of partners such as Atos Worldline.

Eric Gontier, CEO of Buyster: “Thanks to this alliance, we are setting out our ambition to become a key player in eCommerce payment and the leading company in France for mCommerce; a market with strong potential. Over the next five years, we are counting on a share of the mCommerce market representing 10% of the turnover for eCommerce with an estimated amount of just over EUR 6 billion.”


Buyster, natural development of the range of payment operators

The JV recognizes the central role of mobile phones in improving ease of use and strengthening the security of online payments. Buyster enables mobile operators to supplement their existing remote payment services by addressing the market for online-macro payments, complementing existing “kiosk” offers (Internet+, MPME) which enable goods and digital services to be paid for by adding small amounts directly to the telecom bill.

For consumers: Buyster represents a more secure, more practical payment solution adapted to new practices for fixed and mobile Internet

Registering to Buyster enables your bank card to be linked to your cell phone number in a secure way. It is free and available to any cell phone user, irrespective of their operator1 .

In order to make online purchases, the users will no longer need to provide their bank card number, just their cell phone number and confidential Buyster code.

For online merchants: Buyster offers genuine potential for developing turnover



Buyster provides merchants with:

* an improved conversion rate thanks to simplified ergonomics and customer routes on all of its supports and particularly for purchases via cell phone;
* reduced risk of fraud thanks to a strengthened authentication process by cell phone;
* potential for significant additional customers and sales thanks to a confidence-inspiring payment service which removes one of the main restraints on online purchasing;
* the capability to benefit quickly from the mCommerce boom.

Additional to the online stores of mobile operators, major players in the wider eCommerce sector have already confirmed that they will offer Buyster as one of their payment methods from the moment it becomes operational. These include Aquarelle, Brandalley, Darty and even Rue Du Commerce.

Gauthier Picquart, CEO of Rueducommerce.com: “Rueducommerce.com offers an extremely large range of products (more than 2 million items), very attractive prices and quality services. One of the most important services for our customers is to be able to make simple, quick and secure payments from their personal computer but also increasingly from their cell phone. In this context, the arrival of Buyster is excellent news and we are looking forward to putting it into operation.”

In order to simplify its implementation in online merchant stores, the Buyster payment service is designed to be integrated as standard in all Internet payment platforms on the market. Buyster will therefore, from its launch, be easily implemented by more than 30,000 online merchants that have chosen the payment platforms Merc@net from BNP Paribas and Sips from Atos Worldline.

About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is an international provider of IT services. The business turns clients’ visions into results through hi-tech transaction services, consultancy, systems integration, and control of implementation. The company has an annual turnover of € 5.1 billion and employs 50,000 staff. Atos Origin is the global IT partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base composed of renowned international businesses from every sector of the economy. Atos Origin is listed on the Paris Eurolist Market and operates under the names Atos Origin, Atos Worldline, and Atos Consulting.

About Atos Worldline
Atos Worldline brings together Atos Origin’s core expertise in high-tech transactional services. A leader in end-to-end services for critical electronic transactions, Atos Worldline is specialized in electronic payment services (issuing, acquiring, payment solutions, terminals, and card processing), services for financial markets as well as eCS (eServices for customers, citizens, and communities). Atos Worldline on-going commitments to research and innovation enable its customers to benefit from award-winning solutions in areas such as mobile payments, secure IPTV, online CRM and paperless solutions. Atos Worldline generates annual revenues of € 844 million and employs over 5,300 people in the world. For more information, please visit: http://www.atosworldline.com/

On August 27th 2010, Atos Origin announced the acquisition of Venture Infotek – leading independent player on the Indian payment market. Through this acquisition, Atos Worldline reinforces its core business and enters one of the world’s fastest growing payment markets.

About Bouygues Telecom
Created in 1994, Bouygues Telecom has 10,721,000 mobile customers and 645,000 fixed-line customers. Bouygues Telecom is committed to continually enhancing the customer experience for its mobile and fixed telephone, TV and Internet services. Each day, the company’s 9,000 employees develop solutions aligned with changing customer needs and deliver efficient support.
After pioneering the mobile talk-plan concept in France in 1996, Bouygues Telecom introduced groundbreaking unlimited call plans: Millennium (1999) and neo (2006).
Bouygues Telecom acquired its own fixed network in 2008 and became an Internet Service Provider (ISP), launching the Bbox broadband router.
In 2009, Bouygues Telecom invented the “all-in-one” solution with ideo the first quadruple play offer in the market.

In 2010, Bouygues Telecom launched Bbox fibre, its very-high-speed offer, and began investing in fibre-to-the-home in high-density areas.

Bouygues Telecom’s mobile network covers 99% of the population. Its 3G+ network provides mobile Internet access for 84% of the population.

Bouygues Telecom is the only operator to be awarded “NF Service Centre de Relation Client” certification from French standards agency AFAQ AFNOR for all its consumer activities (mobile and fixed). The company has also been ranked No. 1 in Customer Relations* in the mobile phone sector for the fourth year running. Customer relations centres, a distribution network of 620 Bouygues Telecom Club stores, and a website available 24/7 combine to ensure optimum customer service.

*BearingPoint-TNS Sofres Customer Relations Quality League Table (April 2010)

About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With more than 131 million customers, the Orange brand covers internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of 2009, France Telecom had sales of 44.8 billion euros (33.7 billion euros for the first nine months of 2010). At 30 September 2010, the Group had a total customer base of 203 million customers in 32 countries. These include 144.5 million mobile customers and 13.3 million broadband internet (ADSL, FTTH) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
With its industrial project, “conquests 2015”, Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group’s ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information (on the internet and on your mobile):
http://www.orange.com/,
http://www.orange-business.com/,
http://www.orange-innovation.tv/

About SFR
SFR is the second largest French telecoms operator, with 12.4 billion euros in turnover achieved in 2009.
SFR is a global operator owner of its mobile and fixed infrastructure, able to fulfill all its customers requirements - mass market, entrepreneurs, corporates and telecom operators, with mobile, fixed, internet or television services.

With its own mobile and fixed infrastructures and major expertise in IP areas (Internet Protocol), SFR has all the resources necessary to become a responsible and open operator, which makes digital life for its customers easier, still giving more simplicity, useful innovation and quality of service.
At end of September 2010, SFR had 20.8 million mobile customers, including 15.6 subscribers, and more than 4.7 million broadband Internet households.

With nearly 10 000 employees, SFR benefits from two major shareholders, Vivendi (56%) and Vodafone (44%).

http://www.sfr.com/


1) MNOPay will be available to all bank card holders and customers of French cell phone operators, including MVNO [Mobile Virtual Network Operator].