Small business owners and people who work from home in Portugal will now be able to take mobile payments thanks to a deal between Portugal Telecom and Powa. Portugal Telecom is white-labelling the ‘all platform’ mobile payments app, mPowa, which works across iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Blackberry devices. The system comes with a card reader that connects to the handset via Bluetooth.

Portugal Telecom says this is the first arrangement of this kind seen between an operator and a mobile payments provider in Europe.

“With smartphone ownership increasing in Portugal, particularly among businesses, it was important for us to work with the market leader and most innovative operator in Portugal to provide added value and help thousands of business users to leverage the multiple channels to generate sales on their mobile devices,” Dan Wagner, chairman and CEO of mPowa.

Portugal Telecom has already deployed 4G to more than 90 per cent of the Portuguese population. The Portugese operator, which has a customer-base of 100m telecoms clients worldwide, says it anticipates further deals in other markets where it operates, including Brazil and Africa.