by Jared Heng
Consumers in Singapore will be able to “tap” and pay at more than 20,000 retail points and taxis using their Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile phones from the middle of 2012.
Announced late last month by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the new system will also allow businesses to provide interactive and targeted content to consumers through NFC-enabled digital signages at more than 600 locations across Singapore.
To establish the new system, IDA said it has awarded a Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) to a consortium comprising seven companies to deploy a nationwide interoperable NFC infrastructure.
These companies include Gemalto, Citibank, DBS Bank, EZ-Link, M1, SingTel and StarHub.
IDA said an appointed neutral Trusted Third Party (TTP) will enable payment and other service providers to reach all mobile subscribers through the three mobile operators in Singapore.
The TTP serves as a single point of contact between the service providers and mobile operators. It also provides a secure channel for service providers such as banks to send confidential payment account information of their customers to a tamper-proof secure chip in the NFC mobile phones.
In addition, the TTP is responsible for managing the payment application on the secure chip, on behalf of the banks and payment service providers.
For this collaboration, Gemalto will develop and operate the TTP infrastructure.
DBS, EZ-Link and Citibank will enable a wide range of their credit or debit scheme cards and stored value payment products to be issued over-the-air through Gemalto, and stored on the secure chips in their customers’ NFC-enabled mobile phones.
These customers can pay for their purchases using any of those payment products at NFC-ready retail points.
Besides payment services, Gemalto will also collaborate with service providers to deploy a range of innovative NFC mobile value-added services such as interactive digital signage advertising, mobile coupons and mobile ticketing.
This allows consumers to interact with the digital signage advertisements and download coupons, tickets and product information onto their NFC-enabled mobile phones.
IDA and the seven companies will invest a total of S$40 million through the CFC to deploy the TTP infrastructure and more than 10 NFC mobile payment and value-added services by 2014. The services will be rolled out progressively, with at least three NFC mobile payment services to be made available from mid-2012, IDA said.
“The TTP infrastructure will enable prospective service providers to reach out to all mobile subscribers in Singapore. Such ubiquitous access will spur the growth and adoption of innovative NFC mobile services, and in turn transform Singapore’s payment landscape,” Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA, said in a statement.
To enjoy the new services, consumers need to be equipped with NFC phones, or purchase bridging devices from their mobile operators to enhance their existing, non-NFC capable handsets.
