NFC chip and SIM card meet GSMA’s latest SWP handset requirements

Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Aix-en-Provence, France – February 12th, 2009 – Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, and Inside Contactless, the world leader in advanced open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced availability of a Near-Field Communications (NFC) solution fully complying with the latest ETSI standards. The solution also meets the new GSM Association “Pay-Buy-Mobile” mobile handset requirements based on the Single Wire Protocol (SWP).  The new Inside MicroRead® NFC chip, combined with the Gemalto latest UpTeq 300 m-NFC SIM card embarking a Common Criteria EAL4+ security certified chip, gives handset makers and mobile operators the first fully compliant, interoperable, full-speed SWP solution – tested at 1.6 Mbps – to support proximity payments, transport and ticketing.

Both companies had the vision and leadership to develop near field communications solutions and champion them to become ETSI standards supported by the GSM Association. Gemalto originally developed the Single Wire Protocol, which provides a standard interface and secure communications channel between the SIM card and the embedded NFC chip, brought by Inside Contactless.

“Inside has been a pioneer in the field of NFC and after years of continued effort, it is gratifying to see this exciting technology finally coming to market,” said Bruno Charrat, chief scientist for Inside Contactless. “The GSMA is already recommending that its member mobile network operators begin ordering SWP handsets to ensure that consumers can enjoy the convenience of mobile payment and other NFC-related services as soon as possible.”

Gemalto and Inside have been participating in seven “Pay-Buy-Mobile” pilot programs around the world. In particular, both companies kick-started Asia’s first mobile contactless SIM-based NFC trial in Taiwan. As part of a trial involving more than 200 users, FarEasTone, a leading wireless service provider in Taiwan, found that 90 percent of people felt positive toward this new service, 80 percent of people were satisfied that the service is secure and 40 percent said they would switch their monthly spending to a mobile credit card service.

“Offering open, standardized solutions is key to the sustainable take-off of mobile contactless services,” added Jérôme Sion, director of mobile contactless activities at Gemalto. “Following a number of successful pilot programs around the world, always very well received by consumers, we are now entering the time of broad commercial NFC business. Gemalto gathered a unique knowledge from these early deployments and is able to immediately set up a number of field-proven services to support these large operations.”