Turkcell has announced a mobile wallet that enables its subscribers to use their handsets for a range of services including P2P transfers, online purchases and daily deals. In the near future, the new service will also enable subscribers to make payments in physical stores and pay bills. Notably, the SIM-based service is aimed at subscribers with conventional handsets and does not require them to have a bank account. The operator already offers an NFC-based mobile wallet, launched in May 2011.

The Turkish operator is active in the mobile payments market and its new service, Turkish Wallet, adds to its existing services in this area. New services include transferring funds to another mobile subscriber, e-commerce payments and receiving targeted offers.

Also, the new service will enable subscribers with non-NFC handsets to make payments in participating stores. This new service will be launched “very soon”, says the operator. Similarly, utility bill payment will be available soon.

Subscribers use their mobile number rather than a credit or debit card number to make payments with the service. The operator says this feature is “a global first”, although exactly what they are claiming is groundbreaking is unclear since this is an approach that is also being adopted by other companies.

By adding credit and debit cards to their mobile wallets, subscribers are authorised to make payments in stores using only their mobile numbers and without showing the actual cards that underpin the transaction. Other companies in the mobile payments market are taking a similar approach, including PayPal.

Subscribers do not need a bank account to use the new mobile wallet. They can top up the wallet using the operator’s Cep-T Para, a prepaid card it launched in June 2011. Otherwise, users can add their debit or credit cards to the new wallet which was developed by the operator in collaboration with Garanti Bank. Turkcell says 13 other banks will shortly participate in the service.

Initially the service is available only in Turkey but the operator will also target other countries, including those in the former Soviet Union and across the Middle East and North Africa. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, “providers can either integrate into the Turkcell serviced or can purchase it outright”, implying the operator is partly looking at a white label strategy.