San Francisco train system BART has launched a mobile payment trial with Sprint (NYSE: S) where 230 trial participants can pay for a ticket by tagging their phone on a reader at the gate—the credit is topped up automatically over the air. The trial also includes Jack in the Box, which will have advertisements with directions to the nearest Jack in the Box restaurant and discount vouchers. Sprint will also have ads with content available for download...I’m guessing this could increase the value of ads in the BART system. The trial uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. (release)

Meanwhile, in the Philippines Globe Telecom and Western Union have teamed up to introduce a cross-border mobile money transfer service supporting low-principal, high-frequency remittances. Globe Telecom already has almost half a million (of its 19 million subscriber base) active users of its GCASH service, which lets people send and receive cash and make payments. (release)