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March 05, 2013

Cashless Revolution Imminent in Italy with Rapid Deployment of NFC

By Mini Swamy
TMCnet Contributor

A digital society is evolving and billions of people all over the world are looking for more convenient, secure ways to shop, bank, interact and work from anywhere at any time. As a result, more people are resorting to the use of near field communication (NFC) that enables contactless payment transactions.

Italy in particular is witnessing a momentum in mobile NFC payments, and Gemalto (News - Alert), the digital security provider, is determined to use this to its advantage. By joining hands with SIA, the international payment processor, it will begin the rapid deployment of NFC services throughout Italy.

By creating a central hub, the partnership is expected to meet the needs of both the banking and telecoms sectors fostering the NFC ecosystem and mobile payments.

Near-field Communications (NFC) is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that is commonly used in contactless cards, mobile phones and passive RFID.

 “Through this new deployment, SIA will benefit from our effective approach to accelerating the rollout and mass adoption of NFC services,” said Nicola Cordone, deputy general manager at SIA.

It is also reported that Gemalto and SIA are teaming up for the first national TSM (Trusted Service Management) infrastructure in Europe. The fact that Gemalto already has a strong footprint in TSM implementation will augment and facilitate mobile payment technology between financial institutions and mobile operators in a secure and trusted manner.

“Using Gemalto’s proven platform, SIA is allowing all stakeholders to avoid numerous individual arrangements when introducing new contactless services,” said Cordone.

SIA has already secured the support of primary Italian telecom operators and banks to provide NFC services through its central hub that enables contactless payment transactions, and the current partnership will enable it to offer the benefits of Gemalto’s Allynis TSM to service providers.

By delivering such an offering, SIA hopes to push Italy to the forefront of the cashless revolution, enabling millions of consumers to make payments with just the tap of their mobile phone.

If all goes according to plan, up to 200,000 contactless payment terminals are expected to be deployed in Italy by the end of 2013.

Edited by Ashley Caputo