By Joy Fang

FROM next year, consumers can use their ez-link cards at more shops and restaurants.

PaymentLink - card operator EZ-Link's partner, previously known as QB - plans to expand the number of shops that accept the new Contactless e-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) card by three times.

More than 5,000 retail points accept this payment method at present. They include 7-Eleven stores, SMRT taxis and eateries in National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

The company, which started ez-link payment services in 2002, hopes to triple the number of retail points to 15,000 by the end of next year.

It has already roped in retail giant Dairy Farm Singapore, which will install 1,000 terminals in 226 branches of its supermarkets and convenience stores, including Cold Storage and Giant, by the second quarter of next year.

Dairy Farm Singapore came on board because ez-link is a very convenient form of payment and has a large consumer base, said its spokesman.

"Many users of ez-link are also our customers, hence we decided that it would be beneficial to add ez-link to our portfolio of services," said the spokesman.

More than six million ez-link cards are in circulation here.

This is the right time to expand the network as infrastructure for the Cepas system has been completed, said PaymentLink's group managing director, Mr Jeremy Tan.

The card's stored-value capacity has also been increased from $100 to $500, opening up more avenues for consumers to use it for retail transactions, he said.

"We are optimistic about the growth potential for contactless card payment here," he added.

Last month, Network For Electronic Transfers (Nets) launched its multi-purpose contactless card, FlashPay, breaking EZ-Link's monopoly over the $1.3-billion transit market.

This card can be used at 2,500 stores, such as Old Chang Kee and Polar Puffs.

About 39,000 of these cards have been sold, said a Straits Times report two weeks ago. IT executive Hor Woei Ming, 24, uses his ez-link card to pay for taxi fares and buy drinks from vending machines.

"It is especially helpful when you don't have cash," he said.

But he does not foresee using it for more expensive purchases, as he will not store too high a value in the card, which is not password-protected, he said.

joyfang@sph.com.sg

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