Japanese operator NTT Docomo and South Korean oprator KT have agreed to develop a cross-border e-money service that would enable Docomo customers with compliant smartphones purchased in Japan to use a prepaid e-money service called 'Cashbee' in South Korea. The agreement was reached together with eB Card, a Lotte affiliated South Korean prepaid e-money service provider. Cashbee is available at some 52,000 locations in Lotte Group department stores, convenience stores and mass transportation facilities such as subways and buses. The service currently has 5 million users. Docomo and KT will jointly deploy a system to enable this and other cross-border NFC services between their two countries by the end of the first half of fiscal 2013 ending in March 2014. Going forward, they will consider the deployment of other NFC-based cross-border services, such as mobile payments, promotional coupons and mass-transit ticketing.
