Micropayments as little as 0.01 pence for buying and selling on the Internet might be made in the future using a new "electronic wallet" developed by BT.
The telecommunications giant yesterday unveiled its strategy to play a part in electronic trading, or "e-commerce" - a business which has for years appeared to be on the verge of explosive growth without ever taking off.
BT expects e-commerce, especially over the Internet, to grow massively within the next five years.
Among the systems on show from BT is an electronic wallet - actually a program which runs on a computer - that can send "electronic cash" over communications links.
So far, most hopes for e-commerce have foundered because computer users do not trust the security of communications links. They have also been unwilling to make "micropayments" such as one-hundredth of a pence, the typical kind of charge for to access sites on the Internet.
BT has also expressed the hope that it may become a "trusted third party", in other words an organisation that will certify electronic payments by ensuring the seller is who he or she claims to be.
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