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Vodafone Group Selects Gemalto for TSM Platform, NFC Services Solutions

Vodafone Group, a mobile communications service provider, has selected Gemalto (News - Alert) to provide and operate its global Trusted Service Management (TSM) platform and deploy NFC services solutions.

Officials with Gemalto said that this multi-year global contract will provide the foundation for secure and convenient ‘wave and pay’ contactless transactions via mobile phone, as well as for numerous new services that demand the highest levels of security and integrity.

“We are committed to partnering with the best suppliers to offer customers the speed, simplicity and convenience of managing everyday transactions with a single wave or tap of their smartphones” said Christian Wirtz, mCommerce director, Vodafone (News - Alert) Group, in a statement.

Wirtz also said that the consumer benefits of contactless payments are obvious, and the industry in Europe is now at the beginning of rolling out a contactless infrastructure. The potential of mobile to transform existing industries – such as financial services, retail and transport –  is enormous, he added.

“Vodafone’s decision to deploy the first global NFC service with Gemalto marks another important milestone in the long-standing and successful relationship between the two companies,” noted Philippe Vallée, executive vice-president of telecommunications at Gemalto.

Vallée also said that with the experience of dozens of TSM deployments worldwide, Gemalto brings significant accumulated expertise from both the telecoms and banking sectors.

“Vodafone’s project will benefit from Gemalto’s robust solution portfolio and from our know-how in end-to-end mission-critical systems integration,” he said.

Gemalto is a major player in digital security.

According to company officials, key elements of the end-to-end solution that are being integrated by Gemalto include the Allynis TSM service platform and the company’s UpTeq NFC high-end card product.

Company officials said that as the turnkey supplier and systems integrator for Vodafone’s ambitious international project, Gemalto will provide for the launch of a range of services that can address hundreds of millions of subscribers, located in all the countries where Vodafone Group operates.

To support this program, Gemalto’s solution will allow both Vodafone subsidiaries and third party service providers such as banks, transport operators and retailers to seamlessly plug into a secure and reliable NFC ecosystem.