Pizza Hut is to test a new mobile payment service from Sonera at three restaurants in Helsinki, with a view to implementing the system nationwide in the summer.
The Mobile Pay system requires consumers and merchants to be registered on a Sonera-hosted payment server. In the case of Pizza Hut, the customer makes a call or sends an SMS message to a service number that is given to him together with the menu to activate the mobile payment. He will immediately receive a confirmation code back by SMS. After finishing his meal the customer can use his confirmation code for payment.
To settle the payment, the cashier checks the customers' code and the amount to be charged. The customer will receive an SMS as a receipt. The customer may pay for purchases by credit card or as a direct debit to the merchant's account.
The system functions according to the same principle as approving of a credit card payment with one of the major card organisations.
Sonera says the system offers a solution for paying for different kinds of content services and products by a mobile phone. The company says the service has been developed to respond to the difficulties facing online merchants in finding a flexible and easy method of payment independent of operators, banks or credit card companies.