French telecoms to launch internet payment

PARIS, FRANCE: French telecommunications rivals Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR are banding together to create an internet payment company along the lines of eBay's Paypal, they said on Thursday.

The partnership, dubbed Buyster, will allow the French companies to get a piece of the internet payment market dominated by U.S. companies such as Apple and Google.

The three companies, fierce rivals in France for the saturated internet and telephone market, will produce an e-commerce platform by the summer along with IT services company Atos Origin, which will target more than 50 million consumers, they said.

Telecom operators have been under pressure in their traditional markets in the wake of declining prices and are seeking to diversify revenues.