“The consumer benefits of contactless payments are obvious,” says Christian Wirtz, m-commerce director for Vodafone Group. “The potential of mobile to transform existing industries — such as financial services, retail and transport — is enormous.”
Global mobile network operator Vodafone has chosen CorFire’s CorPay mobile wallet technology for its planned rollout of mobile payments services. The telecoms giant, which has 400m customers in more than thirty countries, has also confirmed that it will use Gemalto as its trusted service manager (TSM) and NFC SIM provider.
Vodafone first signed a deal with Visa in February for the introduction of an NFC-based mobile wallet service which is due to roll out in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the UK from 2013.
“This multi-year global contract will provide the foundation for secure and convenient ‘wave and pay’ contactless transactions via mobile phone, as well as for numerous new services that demand the highest levels of security and integrity,” says Gemalto. “Key elements of the end-to-end solution that is being integrated by Gemalto include the Allynis TSM service platform (a complete solution that ensures mobile payment end-to-end security encryption between financial institutions and mobile operators) and the company’s UpTeq NFC high-end card product.
“As the turnkey supplier and systems integrator for Vodafone’s ambitious international project, Gemalto will provide for the launch of a range of innovative services that can address hundreds of millions of subscribers, located in all the countries where Vodafone Group operates.”
CorFire’s CorPay mobile wallet software is compatible with both NFC and standard mobile phones and works with an NFC secure element where one is present to encrypt and store personal account information. “The solution also relies on a full client/server architecture that allows the support of scenarios such as phone change and SIM switching,” says CorFire, a division of Korean technology provider SK C&C.
“Vodafone’s customer base spans across more than 30 countries, which means our partnership may become one of the biggest, global implementations of NFC and mobile commerce,” says Dr Jae Chung, CorFire’s president and CEO. “As a result of this collaboration, we will bring tangible benefits to consumers and pave the way for financial institutions, transit authorities, merchants, and enterprises to leverage the mobile channel to expand their customer reach.”
“We are committed to partnering with the best suppliers to offer customers the speed, simplicity and convenience of managing everyday transactions with a single wave or tap of their smartphones,” explains Christian Wirtz, Vodafone Group’s m-commerce director. “The consumer benefits of contactless payments are obvious and the industry in Europe is now at the beginning of rolling out a contactless infrastructure. The potential of mobile to transform existing industries — such as financial services, retail and transport — is enormous.”
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