By Muaz Shabandri www.khaleejtimes.com
Metro and bus commuters in Dubai will soon be able to pay for their journey using mobile phones. A senior official at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) confirmed the service would be made available by the third quarter of this year.
Speaking with Khaleej Times, Abdulla Al Madani, CEO of Corporate Technical Support Services at RTA said: “We are working very closely with telecom providers in the UAE to roll out Nol services on mobile phones by the third quarter of this year.”
Payment by mobile phones will be made possible using the near field communication (NFC) technology. Many Android and BlackBerry smartphones sold in the UAE already have NFC chips. “We have already developed the payment model. To use the service, the phone should be NFC enabled and the SIM card should have the Nol application in it,” said Abdulla.
Commuters with NFC-enabled mobile phones will be able to tap their phone over Nol card readers inside metro stations and public buses.
However, to use the service, a new SIM with a custom Nol application would have to be installed. More info
