China Mobile will continue to ‘vigorously promote’ RF SIM

Despite pressure from regulators to drop its RF SIM technology, China’s largest mobile network operator says it will continue to push ahead with its RF SIM deployment while, at the same time, also exploring options for delivering solutions compatible with the NFC technology being adopted by Chinese banks.

China Mobile logo
ALIVE AND KICKING: China Mobile is not yet ready to abandon RF SIM technology

China Mobile has confirmed that it plans to continue to “vigorously promote” its 2.4GHz RF SIM technology both in Shanghai and in other Chinese cities.

The news follows pressure from Chinese regulators to drop RF SIMs in favour of the NFC standard approach being promoted by China Unicom and the Chinese banks.

Mao Weiliang, China Mobile Shanghai’s vice president of corporate data, confirmed the mobile network operator’s commitment to RF SIM in an interview reported by Chinese news site Yicai.com today.

Currently, China Mobile subscribers equipped with an RF SIM can use their phones to make payments on 500 buses, on metro line 11 and in 2,000 stores in Shanghai, including branches of McDonalds and Starbucks.

China UnionPay (CUP), meanwhile, has embarked upon a programme of upgrades to its installed base of 2.41 million POS terminals to enable them to accept payments via contactless cards and NFC phones and China Unicom has signed up Bank of Communications as its first partner for a commercial roll out of payments services based on 13.56MHz near field communication technology.

Now, Yicai.com reports, China Mobile says it plans to “vigorously promote its own standards for mobile payment” while, at the same time, saying that it “will also consider the compatibility of the CUP standards.”

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions