China Mobile and Orange have teamed up to promote the adoption of interoperable, SIM-based NFC standards.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) Monday that aims to accelerate the commercialization of mobile contactless services by integrating standardized technical protocols based on the SIM card into their respective services.
Shen Hongqun, China Mobile’s vice president of data service said the two operators will cooperate in the fields of service model design, marketing strategy and product standards for mobile payment.
The operators will also work together to promote NFC services and handsets using the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) specification and develop a harmonized ecosystem based on standard solutions, Shen noted.
"In order to encourage the wide-spread take-up of NFC services, the industry as a whole needs to find ways to offer NFC services that are simple, transparent and secure," said Thierry Millet, Orange's vice president of mobile payment and contactless solutions.
"By working together with China Mobile, we hope to show that the development of a SIM-card based approach using recognized standards will be a key factor in winning over consumer confidence as NFC services become more and more prevalent over the coming years."
The companies’ partnership will contribute to the industry-wide effort coordinated by GSMA and help facilitate the development of an open SIM-based NFC market over the coming years, Millet added.