Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

French mobile operators, retailers form contactless payments group

Monday, December 8, 2008

Three French telecom operators–Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom have–have joined with eight retailers in the country to create a “working group” dedicated to standardizing NFC use in mobile phones.

Called the Ergosum Project, its aim is to foster a contactless mobile payments systems at the point of sale. The group wants contactless payments systems that work with all handsets, operators and retail chains. The same system should also apply to bank and loyalty cards and discount coupons, as well as be compatible with existing electronic money systems.


The technology must also work with the Payez Mobile system developed by the three telecom operators along with seven of the country’s major banks. The retailers involved include Auchan, Carrefour, Castorama, Fnac, Jules, Kinepolis, Leroy Merlin and Le Groupement des Mousquetaires along with financial service providers Banque Accord, COFIDIS, Finaref and LaSer.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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Datacard Group, a provider of secure ID and card personalization solutions, has announced an equity investment and strategic partnership with DeviceFidelity, makers of the In2Pay mobile payments solution.

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A recent survey conducted by Wincor Nixdorf shows that a strong majority of French consumers are interested in using fingerprint scanning technology to secure transactions.

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The European Payments Council (EPC) has published the second edition of its “White Paper on Mobile Payments.”

According to EPC, the white paper focuses on the usage of the mobile payments in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and explores how m-payment services can be delivered through cooperation between service providers in the payment industry and players within the mobile ecosystem.

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Proxama has announced a partnership with semiconductor supplier ARM Holdings to create secure payment mechanisms for mobile handsets.

The UK-based partners say they will combine ARM’s TrustZone technology with Proxama’s Mobile Wallet to develop a “highly secure” environment for NFC-enabled mobile contactless payments and mobile internet payments.

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Credit Agricole, a retail banking group based in Paris, is teaming up with Gemalto to launch a large-scale deployment of contactless EMV banking cards in France.

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