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From: lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Japanese Payphones
Message-ID: <16431@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 25 Jan 91 20:28:57 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 68, Message 3 of 11


In article <16384@accuvax.nwu.edu> wolfson@mot.com (Steve Wolfson)
writes:

>[An article in Business Week] mentioned that [prepaid telephone cards]
>may become used for items other than payphones.  Like everywhere else
>there is talk of standardization of these cards and concerns that this
>would create a new alternative "electronic" currency that doesn't fit
>within standard banking laws.

I just read that the Danish telephone companies have started a project
together with the Visa/EuroCard clearinghouse to define a "smart"
debit card to replace coins. This card would be prepaid with $50 to
$100 and be used for things like telephones, bus fares, street hotdog
vendors etc. Unlike existing debit cards, which may only be issued to
persons age 18 and up, these would have no age restrictions. I suspect
in a couple of years, every child will wear one around their neck.


Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer
CMC Rockwell  lars@CMC.COM