Singtel, Mobike Set Up Deal to Make Mobile Payments for Bikeshare

Southeast Asia is increasingly home to new options when it comes to mobile payments, and recently, the concept got a whole new leg up thanks to a deal between Singtel and bikeshare operation Mobike. The two set up a memorandum of understanding that lets Mobike incorporate Singtel mobile wallet capabilities into paying for the rides given as part of its bikesharing operations.

More specifically, Singtel offers its mobile payments services via Singtel Open Platform, allowing Mobike users to readily pay for trips through Singtel Open Platform mobile wallets or even through direct carrier billing options. Additionally, the new partnership allows for the expansion of other operations, including Internet of Things (IoT) options, marketing strategies and data analytics options.

With the new partnership, not only will it be easier to pay for bikesharing services, it should also be easier to find bicycles and put them to work; one of the biggest problems was accounting for bikes in underground parking garages where signals don’t readily reach.

It may also surprise some that Mobike actually generates about 30 terabytes of data every day, which would be excellent fodder for analytics systems. There will even be some co-branded marketing operations going on as each promotes the other, likely drawing on the analysis conducted of that massive pile of data Mobike generates.

The deal looks to be a sound one, calling on each side’s various strengths and operational capacities to improve the overall operation. Ridesharing has been fertile ground for mobile payments operations for some time now, so seeing it branch out to bikesharing just makes sense. After all, bikes are mobile, their pickup and return locations likewise, so why not make the payment vector mobile as well? It improves convenience and increases the chance of people actually using bikes instead of just calling for a gas-powered ride instead.

Singtel and Mobike’s deal should end up well, and improve not only people’s ability to travel, but also their health—bike riding is a pretty healthy activity, after all—with mobile payments.