As part of its strategy to rope in revenues from VAS apart from the sales of handsets which remains its core business, Finnish firm Nokia announces that come 2010 it will launch its ‘Nokia Money’ mobile banking services.

“It will make it possible "to send money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone number, as well as to pay merchants for goods and services, pay their utility bills, or recharge their pre-paid SIM cards,"  says the company.

The company claims that it has already started building a large network of Nokia Money agents.

“We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with long term growth potential," says Nokia's chief development officer, Mary McDowell. "In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage," she adds.

"Rural consumers will particularly benefit from money transfers and, for urban consumers used to online services, we are enabling services such as payment of utility bills, purchase of train and movie tickets, top-ups, all through their mobile phones," says Teppo Paavola, Nokia VP and head of corporate business development.

Nokia is tying up with Obopay for the services. The services can be availed on handsets of any make and are not restricted to Nokia handsets alone.