Gemalto, a provider of digital security, said that it is continuing its partnership with Orange France, as part of the ‘Nice, mobile contactless city’ commercial project.
Orange has selected Gemalto as partner for its Near Field Communication (NFC) offering, enabling the interconnection with any service provider, such as banks and transport operators.
The ‘Nice, mobile contactless city project’ is the first commercial launch of contactless mobile services in Europe. With the support of the French government, it is being developed in conjunction with mobile operators, banks, transport operators and the retail sector.
According to Gemalto, contactless mobile services allows citizens and visitors in Nice to use their NFC-enabled mobile phones to pay at restaurants, supermarkets and local stores, as well as riding the city’s buses and tramways, all in total convenience and digital security.
The ‘Nice, mobile contactless city’ offering is designed to interface with service partner platforms in an open environment. It complies with the latest EPC (European Payment Council)-GSMA standards and will enable the secure, over–the-air activation of their apps in UICC cards.
The partnership delivers in the Nice project the service technology that will help boost the uptake of mobile contactless services, Gemalto said.
Remi Fouchier, senior vice president for trusted services management at Gemalto, said: “Gemalto is proud and excited to be partnering Orange for the first real-life commercial deployment of mobile NFC services in Europe.
“The contactless mobile market is very dynamic, with strong potential in France and around the world. We look forward to contributing our expertise to further enrich the ecosystem and to facilitate the collaboration between mobile network operators and service providers.”
