EnStream LP (a mobile commerce joint venture owned by three of Canada’s three largest mobile operators – Bell Canada, Rogers and TELUS) recently launched Zoompass, Canada’s first wide-reaching mobile payment service.  With it, Canadians can securely request money from friends, solicit money for joint gifts, pay for goods and services and more – all from their mobile phones, using a pre-paid account, which can be linked to a credit card or bank account.  What’s so cool about this service is that it creates a common standard for mobile money transfers and interoperability across all major mobile phones running on Canada’s major mobile networks including Bell, Rogers, Telus, Fido, PC Mobile and Solo Mobile.

Zoompass is the first major mobile payments initiative of its kind – involving the three largest mobile operators in a country… I’d love to see US and European operators undertake a mobile payments collaboration like this, but sadly, I can’t see it happening anytime soon.

If you’re a Canadian and want to get started with Zoompass, you need to download the Zoompass mobile application to your phone. From there you can start zooming your friends – requesting money or sending money through your mobile phone. You can also get a Zoompass Mastercard, which links directly to your Zoompass account and can be used to make payments inside retailers.  You can learn more about the service at www.GetZoompass.com, and you can sign up at: www.Zoompass.com.