About Smart Cards : Applications : Telecommunications |
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Telecommunications Applications
Smart cards are used extensively in the telecommunications industry worldwide. Eurosmart forecasted that 300 million memory smart cards and 3.3 billion microcontroller smart cards will ship globally for telecommunications applications in 2009. Smart cards are used in two primary telecommunications applications – as prepaid (stored value memory cards) telephone cards and as the microprocessor smart card-based Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) in mobile phones.
GSM and Smart Cards
According to the GSM Association, GSM is used in 218 countries and territories serving more than three billion people. GSM mobile phones include a microcontroller-based smart card, the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), that identifies and authenticates a subscriber to a wireless cell phone network. Unless blocked by the operator, a subscriber can move his phone service to a new phone just by physically moving the SIM. SIMs also facilitate global roaming, providing subscribers with access to voice, data and other services when traveling in other countries. In addition, SIMs can store contact information and phone numbers, and can be used for other applications.
The Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is a new generation of SIM technology optimized for newer wireless network standards. The term SIM is widely used in the industry and especially with consumers to mean both SIMs and UICCs, although they are different technologies. The UICC offers many enhanced capabilities, including better support for multiple applications and IP addressing.
SIMs and UICCs are the smart card industry’s highest volume products for both units and revenue. According to Eurosmart, microcontroller card production worldwide for the telecom sector in 2009 was 3.3 million units. This represented 75% of the 4.4 million total number of microcontroller cards produced for all sectors.
Pay Phones and Smart Cards
Over 100 countries use smart cards instead of coins in their pay phones to improve customer convenience and telecommunications operators’ business models (less cash, reduced risk of losses).
Mobile Payment
Mobile phone users are already familiar with using their phones to pay for products such as games, ring tones and other digital content. Mobile phones and other mobile devices are also being used to pay for products at a physical point of sale (POS), due to the increasing availability of new, more capable mobile devices and new payment technologies that make such transactions possible.
While various mobile payment models have been piloted, the financial industry launch of contactless credit and debit cards based on the ISO/IEC 14443 standard and the emergence of ISO/IEC 18092 (Near Field Communication (NFC)) provide opportunities for the mobile telecommunications industry to incorporate NFC technology in handsets and enable proximity mobile payments at existing merchants who accept American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa contactless credit and debit cards.
NFC Resources. This resource page lists Smart Card Alliance reports and industry organizations, resources and news relating to NFC.
Security of Proximity Mobile Payments. This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council to to provide an overview of the ecosystem of proximity mobile payments. It introduces the stakeholders in the mobile payment ecosystem and describes their roles and responsibilities in assuring the security of sensitive data. It explains how the payment application, consumer credentials and consumer account information are securely delivered to, loaded on and stored in a mobile device. It explains how a mobile device transmits data to a merchant at the point of sale, identifies risks present during the lifecycle of the payment device, and suggests countermeasures. It also identifies industry standards and certifications organization organizations that address this ecosystem.
Proximity Mobile Payments Business Scenarios: Research Report on Stakeholder Perspectives. This report was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council to document research conducted to assess industry stakeholder perspectives on the different business models that could be deployed for proximity mobile payments. The report contains the results of interviews with 21 leading stakeholders in the financial and mobile payments industries.
Proximity Mobile Payments: Leveraging NFC and the Contactless Financial Payments Infrastructure. This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council to describe opportunities for proximity mobile payments using NFC-enabled mobile phones and devices and the contactless financial payments infrastructure. The white paper describes what is necessary to implement and deploy proximity mobile payment systems, discusses the relevant technical and business issues from the perspective of the various stakeholders (e.g., mobile operators, the financial industry, end-users, providers and vendors), and outlines the potential opportunities and barriers that may impact its market adoption.
Additional information about Near Field Communication (NFC) can be found at the NFC Forum.
