Travellers on the subway system in Romania's capital Bucharest can now pay for journeys through their mobile phones, using 'data-over-voice' technology from Margento.
Registered Orange and Vodafone customers can buy tickets - for either one, two or 10 trips - by sending a text message to a dedicated number and then get an immediate payment confirmation SMS.
Once at a station, users call a free number and hold their handset to a reader at the turnstile. The phone makes a beep, which, using Margento data-over-voice technology, the reader recognises, validating the ticket in real-time and allowing access to the platform.
Metrorex, which runs the Bucharest subway, is rolling out the system across its 51 stations after testing last year saw more than 10,000 transactions reliably processed.