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Continued popularity and success of online payment services such as PayPal and Google Checkout has encouraged mobile operators in France to start similar mobile payment services of their own.

The service is being introduced jointly by Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR, in conjunction with computer services group Atos Origin. The service will be called Buyster and is likely to be introduced in France by summer this year.

www.buyster.fr

Buyster will allow users to make payments for purchases made online, by linking their mobile phone to a bank card. The new service will be based on the same Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that Orange is using for mobile payments in the UK. Users will be able to just wave or touch their mobile phones against an in-store reader to make a payment.

Mobile operator Orange estimates that the service will soon be made available to more than 50 million users. French online retailers are extremely happy with the news of this service, as the convenience it will provide can only help to improve business.

Laurent Bailly, head of marketing at Buyster, said that the service will later be extended across Europe. However, many observers are raising doubts about the possibility of the success of the service outside of France.