Turkish mobile operator, Turkcell has rolled out a new series of electronic signature based services, based on a SIM card supplied by Gemalto. The Gemalto solution allows subscribers to securely access online services that require strong authentication using their mobile phone to sign their transactions and documents by means of a legally binding electronic signature. Eighteen months after the initial deployment, the operator is working with 12 partner banks, 4 investment companies, 6 governmental organizations and 2 e-commerce websites.
Turkcell initially launched their mobile signature program with the deployment of Internet banking services. This second phase sees the roll out of a broader range of online applications that subscribers can access from their mobile phone, home PC, or even an Internet cafe. Users authenticate themselves at login with the digital signature generated by their SIM card and they can sign secure e-commerce transactions through their handset.
All that subscribers need to do is respond to an authentication request received via SMS, which requires them to enter a secret code. Then the digital signature is sent automatically to Turkcell's validation server.
Gemalto provided Turkcell with a PKI-based strong authentication solution that ensures the highest levels of security for online operations. Upon the operator's activation request, the SIM card itself creates the secret keys. This on-board key generation (OBKG) process is performed after the SIM card has been personalized and issued to the subscriber. It allows him or her to generate a secret signature key and passwords for accessing the application, in complete privacy and security.
"Mobile signature makes life easier and more convenient for our subscribers, as they can identify themselves with one unique password to securely access various different applications," commented Cenk Serdar Chief Executive for Value Added Services with Turkcell. "Drawing on the success of the initial rollout, our plan is to pursue the fruitful business relationship we have built with Gemalto to make more and more new services available to our customers."
Turkcell's mobile signature program is based on qualified digital certificates by E-Guven, a Turkish Certificate Authority. Digital certificates are created under Turkish Digital Signature Law that is also in accordance with EU's Digital Signature Directive.
Posted to the site on 3rd November 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/34425.php