Singapore Develops Interoperable NFC for Mobile Services
Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, along with 11 industry players, will facilitate the establishment of an interoperable infrastructure using near field communication (NFC) technology, promoting the development of innovative services. With interoperability, subscribers of any telco will have access to the full range of NFC services offered by any service provider.
MobileOne, SingTel, StarHub, DBS, OCBC, UOB, BCS, EZ-Link, NETS, MasterCard and Visa, along with government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Land Transport Authority, have agreed to collaborate towards achieving an interoperable commercial deployment of NFC mobile payment through a trusted third party (TTP) infrastructure. The TTP would act as a neutral party delivering interoperability by providing a single point of contact for banks, payment providers and telcos. This would help to eliminate the duplication of infrastructure and satisfy the trust requirements of all parties for payment services.
The IDA will facilitate industry collaborations in the establishment of the TTP, deployment of NFC payment services and adoption of contactless payment standards such as CEPAS, Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass etc. NFC adoption will be accelerated when mobile phone manufacturers make available more NFC-enabled mobile phones for the Singapore market.