Mobile proximity payment users to surpass 1 billion

Mobile proximity payments are making their mark in the mobile payment world, according to new figures from ovum.

The analyst firm says the while they are the smallest, mobile proximity payments are the fastest growing segment in the market.

Ovum's new m-payments forecast shows that the total global user base for mobile payment segments will increase from an estimated 689.99 million users in 2014 to 4.77 billion users in 2019. This forecast also includes m-commerce and person-to-person (P2P) mobile money transfers.

The global user base for mobile proximity payments (both NFC and non-NFC) stood at 44.55 million in 2014, Ovum says.

Traction for NFC mobile proximity payments is, with a few notable exceptions, particularly low across the vast majority of mature markets and almost non-existent in emerging markets, the company explains.

However, by 2019 there will be a total of 1.09 billion global mobile proximity payment users, of which 939.10 million will be NFC.

The total transaction value of mobile proximity payments (both NFC and non-NFC) will grow from $4.77bn in 2014 to $141.21bn in 2019, Ovum says.