Good news for those looking for better SIM-based NFC services. According to NFCNews, the GSM Association has announced that 45 mobile operators around the world have committed to supporting and implementing SIM-based NFC services.
Franco Bernabè, chairman of the GSMA (News - Alert) and CEO of Telecom Italia Group, said momentum behind SIM-based NFC is “growing rapidly.” ISIS has also announced its support for SIM-based NFC. That’s the organization formed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon (News - Alert) to build a nationwide mobile commerce network in the U.S.
Among the industry heavyweights to sign on are China Mobile and China Unicom, which account for nearly 800 million subscribers throughout China. Other key operators include Deutsche Telekom, Orange, SK Telecom, Turkcell (News - Alert), Verizon and Vodafone, among others.
Last month TMCnet reported that Oberthur Technologies, a provider of security and identification products and services based on smart card technologies, and AuthenTec (News - Alert), a provider of security and identity management tools, joined forces to create SIM/Universal Integrated Circuit Card-based designs that make NFC mobile payment via smartphones faster and more secure.
Both companies combined their experience in SIM/UICC security and fingerprint identity to jointly create solutions that enhance the speed and security of mobile payment transactions.
NFCNews reported that the GSMA has also published “a new set of handset and SIM specifications that define common handset application programming interfaces (APIs) to support NFC services, to create a common framework for implementation and interoperability.
The hope is that such a framework will accelerate the global deployment of NFC.
"Combining AuthenTec's fingerprint authentication with the security features of Oberthur Technologies' SIM-based design increases trust beyond the SIM and the mobile device to establish confidence that only an authorized user is presenting a smartphone for mobile payment," said Cedric Collomb, Cards and Services general manager, Card Systems Division at Oberthur Technologies.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by Tammy Wolf