Turkcell & Garanti Bank Select E-Kart as Technology Partner

Turkcell and Garanti Bank have selected E-Kart as their technology partner for a trial beginning in autumn 2007 for m-payments using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

E-Kart is working in collaboration with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), the second largest smart card manufacturer in the world, to supply NFC-enabled SIM cards. In addition, the solution for the secure uploading and administration of the payment application and the user data is provided by Venyon, a joint venture between G&D and Nokia (MPW 92). Venyon specializes in the secure management of NFC applications over the mobile network, i.e. over the air (OTA).

“The trial is very important for us to check the functionality of the NFC technology and its acceptance by our customers. Given this relatively new technology, it was very important for us to find reliable and technologically competent partners for the pilot project,” explains Cenk Serdar, chief VAS Officer, Turkcell. “In E-Kart, G&D and Venyon we have on board three companies with extensive know-how, who can also smoothly implement the technology on a wider scale following a successful trial run.”

The pilot project is part of the “Pay-Buy-Mobile” initiative of the GSM Association (MPW 101, 108), which wants to support the SIM card-based worldwide introduction and application of NFC technology. Mobile devices should be interoperable and securely linked to already existing payment and contactless systems. In this trial, 100 Turkcell and Garanti employees and customers will be provided with an NFC-enabled mobile phone that they can use to make payments by holding the phone to an NFC reader.

Applications with higher security requirements, such as a credit card function, can ideally be put on the SIM card as a secure storage element. In the Turkcell and Garanti Bank pilot project the contactless MasterCard PayPass credit card application is stored and enabled on the SIM card from G&D. The SIM card is linked to the NFC chip in the mobile device via the single wire protocol (MPW 105, 109).

The PayPass application and the customer data required for the payment function are loaded flexibly on the SIM card via the mobile network, using the secure OTA service of Venyon, without the user of the service having to visit a Turkcell or Garanti branch. Also potential updates and life-cycle management can be performed at any time using the same user-friendly and secure method.

“We are convinced that NFC technology will provide an important impetus to contactless payments. Compared to a contactless credit card, a mobile phone has the advantage of a display function for checking the payment transaction,” says Reha Emekli, EVP, Garanti Payment Systems.

“G&D has been supplying us with credit cards for a long time and is recognized as a leading technology provider in the NFC market. We are focusing on this expertise. Garanti Bank has over 6m credit card customers in Turkey and back in summer 2006 implemented the MasterCard PayPass system based on contactless cards (MPW 86). Some 3000 retailers already use contactless readers, which can also be used for NFC variants.”

“This trial, which is one of the first in the world that uses a SIM card as a secure storage element, will enable us, E-Kart and Venyon, to demonstrate our role as leading NFC technology providers. The users of this service can rely at the same time on the highest security,” comments Dr. Klaus Vedder, head of the telecommunications, G&D.