Smart expands NFC offerings

MANILA, Philippines - After becoming the first telco to use the state-of-the-art Near Field Communications technology in the country, Smart Communications Inc. is now joining forces with a global technology firm to propagate the country’s use of NFC as a fast and convenient way of transacting payments.

Smart recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Oberthur Technologies, a major player in the field of secure wireless technology, on the implementation of an innovative payment system using NFC, a technology that allows wireless data exchange between two NFC-enabled devices in close proximity to each other.

“Through our partnership with Oberthur, Smart’s NFC payment solution will be accessible to millions of Filipinos, whether they own a smartphone or not,” said Smart financial services head Tricia Dizon.

“While the country’s smartphone penetration is increasing at a rapid pace, we do not want to alienate the large majority of Filipinos who are still using feature phones,” she added.

For several months now, Smart employees have been using NFC to buy food and beverages at the canteen in their Makati headquarters. All they have to do to pay for their purchases is tap a special Smart Money card with an embedded NFC chip on an NFC terminal.

Dizon said Smart will make NFC technology available across different industries like food, transportation, and retail.

“Merchants and customers will definitely save a lot of time and effort with Smart’s NFC payment solution. There will be no need to prepare change, and no need to take the NFC card out of a wallet or bag. This means people will have more time to attend to more pressing matters,” she said.

To ensure that Smart delivers only the best NFC experience to Filipinos, Dizon said, the wireless services leader partnered with a big and trusted name in the telecommunications industry.

Oberthur Technologies is a French-based company with 5,700 employees in 40 countries. It has a proven track record in NFC technologies, having been involved in France’s “Nice, NFC City” project since 2010.

It has 10 years of experience in remote administration platforms, and is a trusted supplier to more than 5,000 banks, mobile operators, and transport authorities worldwide.

“Oberthur is pleased to collaborate with Smart to revolutionize the Philippine payment industry. This partnership marks another milestone in the long-standing partnership with Smart in providing secure technologies and services,” said Eric Cabrera, Oberthur business manager for the Philippine telecom sector.

Smart was the first Philippine telco to utilize NFC technology in the country using smartphones and cards.

As early as October last year, Smart introduced “Tap2Share,” a service that let subscribers using an NFC-enabled smartphone to make a balance inquiry and download mobile content like news, music, and games, simply by tapping their phone on specially marked posters.

A few months later, Smart launched “Tap2Pay,” the country’s first mobile NFC service that let users pay for products or services. Nokia C7 users were able to buy a ticket to a World Trade Center event in December 2011 simply by tapping on marked posters at the entrance.

“NFC is just part of the long list of innovations that Smart has introduced in the Philippines. We assure Filipinos that as with our previous pioneering efforts, we are pulling out all the stops to make sure that they will get superior NFC services from Smart,” Dizon said.

“For us, it’s not enough to be the first. We continuously strive to offer only the best services to our subscribers,” she added.