Taiwan Mobile to Offer SIM Based NFC Services

Smartcard firm, Gemalto has been chosen by Taiwan Mobile to provide the world's first commercial NFC (Near Field Communication) SIM-based mobile contactless system. The development is important as it avoids the need for customers to have to upgrade their handset, as they can simply get a new SIM card. This should make it possible for operators to speed up the rollout of the service - if they choose to.

This solution will be commercially rolled out nation-wide during 2008. It will enable banks, transport companies and other service providers to incorporate their services onto a mobile environment. This will complete Taiwan's contactless experience along with previous commercial launches for payment and transport.

As a trusted service manager, Gemalto protects the privacy and security of these services. Gemalto guarantees that only banks, transport companies and service providers deal with their subscriber's relationship. Thus no other parties will be allowed to interfere with their business or to meddle with end-user privacy.

Gemalto's solution encompasses all aspects of the service including a card and application management system, a key management system (to securely handle the life-cycle of the application), a module to deploy the user interface application both on the NFC SIM and the handset. Gemalto also takes care of maintenance and support.

"We learnt a great deal from our NFC SIM programs in Taiwan about the needs of our partners and end-users for trust and convenience. Every subscriber is convinced that mobile tap-to-pay is fast, convenient and easy to use. We responded by becoming a business facilitator", said Tan Teck Lee, President, Gemalto Asia. "As there are multiple stakeholders sharing sensitive information, it is necessary to ensure the security of this process, and inevitably you will need a trusted third party. This is exactly where we bring our knowledge and experience both in telecommunications and financial services together. This cross-disciplined, multi-party service management domain is where we do some of our best work, and once again demonstrates how digital security can provide a more convenient and simple life whilst maintaining security and privacy".

Jeff Ku, Vice President of Emerging Services, Taiwan Mobile, added, "Remote management of contactless services is key. With these enablers subscribers do not have to go to a bank branch or train station to load and update their applications. This solution is primarily intended for contactless payment use, but we can extend this system to work also with transport applications and contactless coupon management. We now have an elegant way to enable other service providers to upload their applications through the system, thus opening the door to greater use because of the flexibility of the OTA implementation".

Posted to the site on 7th February 2008