O2, one of the leading mobile networks operating in the United Kingdom has become the first operator in the country to apply for a fresh e-money licence. The e-money technology allows customers to text funds with each other.

O2 UK that employees 1,700 workers at its worksite in Preston Brook in the vicinity of Runcorn, is currently bidding for the licence of a financial service. The financial services authority of the United Kingdom will be regulating the e-money licence as well.

It has also been claimed that the customers would be allowed by the licence to purchase goods and services as well as train tickets with their mobile phones.

Meanwhile the chief executive officer of Telefonicaeurope, the Spanish owner of O2, Mathew Kew said that the e-money service could be introduced this summer. He added in the interview that their strategy was to bring a mobile wallet to the market that was capable of taking everything currently carried by a person in his physical wallet by a person in his physical wallet and putting it into a mobile phone.

It is understood that following a directive from the Europen Union this spring could see the incorporation of the e-money licence into the UK law.

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