From the middle of 2012, Singapore consumers will be able to ‘tap’ and pay for their purchases at more than 20,000 retail points and taxis using their Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled mobile phones. Businesses will also be able to provide interactive and targeted content to consumers through NFC-enabled digital signage located at more than 600 locations in major shopping malls and office buildings throughout Singapore.
This will be made possible through a Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) with industry players to deploy a nationwide interoperable NFC infrastructure. Through an appointed neutral Trusted Third Party (TTP) , payment and other service providers will be able to reach all mobile subscribers through the three mobile operators in Singapore.
The CFC has been awarded to a consortium comprising seven companies - Gemalto Pte Ltd, Citibank Singapore Ltd, DBS Bank Ltd, EZ-Link Pte Ltd, M1 Limited, SingTel Mobile Singapore Pte Ltd and StarHub Mobile Pte Ltd. 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.
The Trusted Third Party (TTP) serves as a single neutral point of contact between the service providers and mobile operators. It provides a secure channel for service providers such as banks and Payment Service Providers (PSP) to send confidential payment account information of their customers to a tamper-proof secure chip in their NFC mobile phones. It is also responsible for managing the payment application on the secure chip, on behalf of the banks and PSPs. A TTP infrastructure eliminates the need for any service provider to establish separate technical connections with individual mobile operators.
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.
As part of IDA's Next Generation e-Payment Program, IDA and the seven companies will be investing a total of $40 million through the CFC to deploy the TTP infrastructure and more than ten NFC mobile payment and value-added services by 2014. The services will be rolled out progressively, with at least three NFC mobile payment services made available from mid 2012.
To enjoy the convenience brought about by NFC mobile payment services, consumers will need to be equipped with NFC phones, or purchase bridging devices from their mobile operators to enhance their existing, non-NFC capable handsets. Details will be announced by the three mobile operators at a later stage.
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. Support for more payment schemes will be added over time. Beyond payment, merchants can also work with Point-of-Sale terminal providers to develop new and exciting customer reward and loyalty redemption services, based on NFC technology, on these terminals. Integrating proximity (“tapping”) transactions with social networks, reducing physical merchandise with NFC-tagged displays etc are novel ideas to improve customer service and convenience.
Besides the awarded Consortium, other payment and value-added service providers are also encouraged to leverage the interoperable TTP infrastructure to deploy their secure NFC mobile services. The open access model installed through this CFC will facilitate the entry of new players, and help nurture the growth of the NFC eco-system in Singapore. IDA will continue to work with industry partners to further enrich the suite of NFC services over time.
The deployment is focused on retail payment at the start. IDA and the consortium members will be working with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to assess NFC mobile payment readiness for transit, presumably on all types of public transport, in early 2013. The existing CEPAS NFC card system has been operating successfully for years.
This CFC constitutes part of IDA’s Next Generation e-Payment Program under its iN2015 masterplan, with the vision of making Singapore an Intelligent Nation, Global City, powered by infocomm. This initiative, unlike the previous fragmented and competitive CFCs sponsored by the IDA in mPayments, involves all the mobile operators and key banks and credit card issuers with a TTP. If this works, and there is no doubt it will, just like the country’s NBN rollout, Singapore could become the world’s national NFC leader.
Posted
10-24-2011 10:59 PM
by
The Insider