GSMA confirms widespread support for putting contactless tech in a SIM.
These operators include China Mobile and China Unicom, which account for nearly 800 million connections between them, along with biggies such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, MTS, Orange, Proximus, Qtel Group, Telefonica, Telenor, Turkcell, Verizon and many more.
The roll call confirms the magnetic pull of NFC and its status as the current 'next big thing' for the world's operators.
They're looking to NFC as the key to opening a huge market for low ticket retail payments and coupon/marketing redemption.
According to Strategy Analytics, nearly 1.5 billion SIM-based handsets will have been sold worldwide between 2010 and 2016, supporting transactions of more than $50 billion globally over the same period.
Of course, the road to NFC is hardly a straightforward one with handset makers (Apple, Samsung), platform makers (Google), reader makers (Verifone) and operators all jostling for influence and rev share in the space.
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To accelerate adoption of NFC services, the GSMA has published a new set of industry specifications. It aim is to allow nteroperability between NFC devices regardless of mobile operator, network or device type.
The handset and SIM requirement documents can be found here.
"Clearly the momentum behind SIM-based NFC is growing rapidly, particularly with leading operators China Mobile and China Unicom supporting NFC services secured by the SIM card," said Franco Bernabe, Chairman of the GSMA.
"NFC is an important innovation for consumers around the world, and while it is perhaps best known for enabling secure mobile payments, it will also enable a wide range of innovative and exciting new services and applications, such as mobile ticketing, entertainment services, secure access to hotels or cars, loyalty schemes and couponing, among others."
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