Munich, Germany — Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is supplying Near Field Communications-enabled Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) to Noverca, an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) for Italy’s first mobile payments pilot project being conducted with Banca Intesa Sanpaulo.
Up to 600 of the bank’s employees can now use their mobile phones to make contactless payments in the northern Italian cities of Milan and Turin at more than 3,000 point of sale (POS) terminals. The terminals have been provided to retail outlets such as supermarkets and cafes by Setefi, Intesa Sanpaulo Group’s payments organisation. Using NFC, the customers can pay for their purchases by holding their devices close to an appropriate reader.
Giesecke & Devrient has considerable experience in this space having already supported more than 40 pilot trials. G&D have provided this project with systems and services for the secure installation and management of mobile payments. The company’s new Taurus range of NFC-enabled SIM cards has been deployed, and it has added MasterCard(R) PayPass(TM) technology, so that these mobile payments meet the same standards as conventional card payments.
“This project is an important milestone on the road to introducing mobile payments in the Italian market. The close co-operation between all the players in the mobile ecosystem is adding tangible value for their customers,” says Willem Bulthuis, Giesecke & Devrient’s group senior vice president, Mobile Security, Global Marketing & Sales. “With access to over 3,000 POS terminals the smartphone users can opt for contactless payments for virtually any of their everytday purchases. Uppermost for us is the security of their transactions. We want users to feel confident at all times using this contactless payment technology.”
Banca Intesa Sanpaulo has equipped participants in the pilot with NFC-enabled Samsung Wave S5780 smartphones.
