On 29 July 2017, representatives from China Telecom’s BestPay and FOMO Pay met at the Tianyi Intelligent Ecological Expo where they signed a cooperation agreement, officially announcing the entry of BestPay into Singapore. This is yet another exciting step towards bringing the convenience of WeChat Pay to users in Singapore. Under this strategic partnership, FOMO Pay will help to incorporate China Telecom BestPay’s payment solutions into the shopfronts of various local merchants and retailers.
China Telecom has recently been expanding rapidly overseas
Known in China as one of the three largest telecommunications provider, China Telecom boasts a network of 1.1 million stores spread all over the country and 300 million active users. Through its mobile application BestPay, China Telecom has recently been expanding rapidly overseas starting with Australia’s RoyalPay in July 2017.
Given FOMO Pay’s strong presence and experience with WeChat Pay in the Singapore market, it is no surprise that China Telecom chose to partner with FOMO Pay. More than 1,000 participating merchants will be covered under this partnership, including Tangs departmental store, Charles & Keith, Pedro, TWG, Lacoste, Pazzion, SF Express and the Fragrance hotel chain. These merchants cover the full suite of services and retailers catering to the tourism industry in Singapore, bringing convenient WeChat mobile payment services to tourists and locals alike. Soon, patrons of these shops would be able to use WeChat Pay to pay for items and services if they have a China Telecom subscription and have installed the BestPay mobile application.
With the presence of growth opportunities for mobile payment solutions in the Singapore market, this new development will undoubtedly increase the usage of the WeChat payment app. It is likely that in the near future, it will be the norm to pay by WeChat instead of using credit or debit cards.