MTS subscribers will be able to visit special kiosks at Moscow Metro stations to equip their phones with a SIM+antenna solution that enables them to charge their travel costs to their mobile phone bill. More
Gemalto has provided further details of the role it is playing in Japanese mobile network operator KDDI‘s extensive NFC field test, which went live last month... More
The Beijing branch of mobile network operator China Unicom has launched an NFC service in conjunction with Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card Co (BMAC)... More
China’s largest mobile network operator is coming under pressure from MIIT, the national technology regulator, to join the Chinese banks and its two rival operators China Unicom and China Telecom in adopting a single, national mobile payments standard based on NFC standard technology. More
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, is planning to run an NFC trial in Moscow later this year, Russian business publication Kommersant reports... More
The mobile network operator is starting small with a limited rollout in the Czech city of Pilsen but a business strategy is now in place and commercial launches in the UK and Spain could be next. More
Following the successful launch of the Cityzi NFC service in Nice, a further “three to five” cities are to receive funding from the French government as the country gears up for the introduction of a nationwide commercial NFC service. More
France’s mobile network operators and banks, along with Visa and MasterCard, the local transport operator, the city council and others will take part in Europe’s first pre-commercial NFC pilot — which will be identified by the new Cityzi brand. More
Gemalto’s new Upteq N-Flex enables near field communication functionality to be added to a wide range of mobile phones and is the first NFC add-on to conform to the Single Wire Protocol. More
Passengers on Frankfurt’s U-Bahn commuter services will be able to access a range of travel information services via smart posters located in each carriage. More
The mobile network operator has partnered with card issuers, airlines, a cinema chain, a car manufacturer and others to run a series of tests of NFC standard technology and aims to introduce NFC services “in the near future”. More
The latest in a host of near field communication-related patent applications from Apple covers the use of an NFC-enabled iPhone for buying an airline ticket and for checking in baggage... More
Veolia Transport, operator of bus and tram services covering the city of Nice, site of the soon to launch Nice NFC City pre-commercial pilot, and the surrounding towns and villages, is to install NFC and 2D barcode-enabled information points across the local transport network in the next couple of months... More
Yet another NFC-related Apple patent application has been published, this time targeting the concert, entertainment and sports ticketing sectors... More
The UK’s Department for Transport has published an in-depth report on the findings from an 18-month research project investigating the potential of NFC in transport ticketing... More
“Oyster has the potential to be used for so much more than simply getting around the capital, and the technology is there to make it even more convenient for Londoners to use by integrating it into mobile phones or bank cards,” says the Mayor of London’s transport advisor. More
The ZigBee Alliance has announced it has now completed development of ZigBee Telecom Services, a new standard enabling operators to offer a range of mobile proximity services to consumers using standard handsets and SIMs containing a built-in ZigBee antenna... More
SIM and smart card standards body GlobalPlatform has launched a Trusted Service Manager (TSM) Working Group... More
The bank card association is conducting NFC pilots in Shanghai, Ningbo and Changsha and has extended its mobile payments services to a total of six provinces and regions. More
The cards “will be sold where consumers buy memory cards today, including retail merchants and major network operators as well as new locations such as mass transit kiosks and financial institution branch locations,” says First Data, and “SideTap MicroSD cards may also come pre-bundled in handsets.” More