Gemalto, Crédit Mutuel-CIC and NRJ Mobile Join Forces for the Commercial Launch of Contactless Mobile Payment in Nice
First large-scale deployment of NFC services in Europe
Amsterdam, May 21, 2010 - Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, Crédit Mutuel-CIC and NRJ Mobile have joined forces to offer contactless mobile payment services as part of the "Nice, mobile contactless city " project. Following the successful launch of the first contactless mobile payment pilot in November 2006, with its mobile virtual network operator NRJ Mobile, Crédit Mutuel-CIC is today positioned as a major player in the operational deployment of such services.
The "Nice, mobile contactless city" initiative 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. It will allow people in Nice to use their NFC-enabled mobile phones in total security to pay at restaurants, supermarkets and local stores, as well as in the city's transport networks. Information services will also be available at the museums and university campus.
This project follows on from the "Payez Mobile" pilot programs successfully rolled out in Strasbourg and Caen, with a new commercial dimension. In Nice, users take out an NFC mobile pack at their operator's points of sale, and activate the NFC payment service at their bank branch office. For Crédit Mutuel-CIC customers, access to this service is even simpler, since they will be able to find the Crédit Mutuel Mobile or CIC Mobile* offerings in their Crédit Mutuel or CIC branch office and will therefore activate the NFC functionality all at the same time.
Gemalto has provided Crédit Mutuel-CIC with its dedicated Trusted Service Management (TSM) range of services and solutions, enabling the secure deployment and management of contactless mobile payment. Its experience in the personalization of banking cards and the deployment of "over-the-air" services is facilitating convergence between the mobile and banking worlds.
The Crédit Mutuel-CIC Group confirmed: "Crédit Mutuel-CIC was the first bank in France to launch its mobile telephony business. And to maintain our leading edge in this area we must continuously offer our customers new services at the forefront of innovation. NFC represents a genuine revolution in payment, which is naturally in line with our offers. We wanted to make it very easily accessible by delivering an all-in-one service to our customers."
"The Nice project marks the first stage in the operational deployment of NFC services in France, and more widely in Europe," added Rémi de Fouchier, head of contactless mobile solutions at Gemalto. "The cooperation between banks and operators has enabled us to build scalable NFC solutions and services which will facilitate the adoption of mobile payment and of many other contactless services in other cities and other countries. By joining forces with Crédit Mutuel-CIC and NRJ Mobile, Gemalto is offering to people in Nice a simple and convenient access to the first large-scale NFC payment services on the French market".
* Crédit Mutuel Mobile and CIC-Mobile are NRJ Mobile operator services offered by Crédit Mutuel-CIC.
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