The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will be collaborating with industry players to deploy a nationwide interoperable near field communication infrastructure.
From the middle of 2012, consumers can “tap” and pay for their purchases at more than 20,000 retail points and taxis using their NFC-enabled mobile phones.
Businesses can also provide interactive and targeted contents to consumers through NFC-enabled digital signages located at more than 600 locations in major shopping malls and office buildings throughout Singapore.
The CFC has been awarded to a consortium comprising seven companies - Gemalto, Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank, EZ-Link, M1 Limited, SingTel Mobile Singapore, and StarHub Mobile. The participation by major players together with all mobile operators makes this collaboration the first interoperable nationwide deployment of NFC mobile payment system in Asia.
In this collaboration, Gemalto will be developing and operating the TTP infrastructure. DBS, EZ-Link and Citibank will enable a wide range of their credit/ 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 will be able to pay for their purchases using any of those payment products at NFC-ready retail points. The services will be launched progressively across all three mobile operators (M1, SingTel and StarHub) from the middle of next year.
Besides payment services, Gemalto will also be collaborating 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 will allow consumers to interact with these digital signage advertisements and download coupons, tickets and product information onto their NFC-enabled mobile phones. Merchants can likewise enjoy the NFC benefits as long as their payment terminals can accept contactless payment cards from MasterCard or Visa, or support Singapore’s CEPAS payment standard.