AT&T said today it had taken a step toward the long-promised notion of mobile phone banking by signing deals with Wachovia and several other banks.
The agreements will allow customers of its Cingular Wireless arm, which is being rebranded as AT&T, and participating banks to manage their accounts and pay bills electronically by using an application on their cell phone.
AT&T said customers could download the software from privately held Firethorn Holdings onto their phones.
Along with Wachovia, US banks such as BancorpSouth, Regions Financial and Suntrust Banks are offering mobile banking to AT&T customers.
AT&T, having tested the service since last year, has said it will not charge extra for mobile banking but expects it to attract more users to its wireless Internet service and keep existing ones.
AT&T plans to include Firethorn software in new handsets in the second half of this year and is planning a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to promote the service.