Singtel announced a broad expansion of its Dash mobile payments app through deals involving Visa and Apple, the latter of which it said makes it the first non-bank service in Singapore to be available on Apple Pay.

In a statement, the company said making Singtel Dash available on Apple Pay enables users to make payments using Apple devices at participating retailers worldwide. The tie-up also covers online purchases and digital content subscriptions.

The Visa collaboration is a key element in enabling these payments. Singtel today (10 December) extended its deal with the company to allow the Dash app to be used at “millions of online retailers” and real world merchants accepting Visa contactless payments globally through the Visa Virtual Account.

Singtel added the Visa Virtual Account to Dash in 2017: at the time the operator said it was eying compatibility with Apple Pay and other global wallets in a bid to broaden availability of its payment app.

Gilbert Chuah, head of m-commerce at Singtel’s International Group, hailed the latest moves as “a game changer for the mobile wallet scene in Singapore” at a time of “rising popularity” for international travel and online shopping among citizens.

Kunal Chatterjee, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei noted more than 70 per cent of all transactions handled by the company are today contactless “made either through a physical card or mobile device”.

Singtel Dash has more than 500,000 registered users and the operator claimed it is the country’s “only all-in-one mobile payments solution” enabling domestic and international payments.