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Bank Scotland, BT Cellnet launch cellphone banking

LONDON: The Bank of Scotland and BT Cellnet, Britain's leading mobile Internet operator, teamed up on Sunday to launch a mobile telephone banking service.

The new service, which will be available to Bank of Scotland account holders and BT Cellnet's seven million customers, is the latest development in Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology - which allows the transfer of data from the Internet to cellphones.

Customers will be able to use their BT Cellnet's WAP phones to pay bills, transfer between accounts, view balances in any of their Bank of Scotland accounts, as well as browse the Internet, the two firms said in a joint statement.

Bank of Scotland is the first bank to offer customers the chance to use a mobile telephone banking service.

Shaun Trowbridge, Bank of Scotland partnerships director, told Reuters that the service would be available to holders of WAP phones - which cost around 300 pounds - at the cost of a regular call.

He said that eventually, the bank would offer customers other services - such as a signal which would alert them via their mobile phones of a particular investment opportunity or a change in their portfolios.

"We are working on providing other bundles of information, which we may then charge for," he added.

The bank's Internet venture comes just as it is about to enter the final days of its hostile bid battle for National Westminster Bank.-Reuters