Gemalto’s UpTeq NFC World’s First High-End SIM to Obtain American Express, MasterCard and Visa Certifications

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

“Our involvement and experience in the telecommunications and banking sectors have enabled us to create a high end security device that leverages the strengths of these two industries”

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces that its UpTeq NFC high-end SIM has obtained certifications from the three largest global payment networks - American Express (AMEX), MasterCard and Visa, in addition to previous certification by EMVCo. Available in all form factors for 2G, 3G and 4G handsets, the UpTeq NFC supports contactless payment and other secure services via AMEX ExpressPay, MasterCard PayPass and Visa payWave, providing unmatched flexibility to service providers and end users.

The UpTeq NFC has been certified with the widest scope of functionalities possible. With an optimized delta certification for product approval, this secure service platform can be tailored to fit the needs of each individual NFC deployment. Following the Singapore NFC launch in August, the fully certified UpTeq NFC is now being deployed by Singapore’s three mobile operators – M1, SingTel and StarHub – and will also support CEPAS¹, a local payment standard used for small value purchases. The high end SIM will also be customized for the local requirements of KDDI in Japan, Rogers in Canada and Orange in France, amongst others.

The UpTeq NFC acts as a tamper-proof secure element for consumers’ confidential credentials and payment data and is a crucial part of enabling NFC transactions. The strict requirements needed to obtain certification from AMEX, MasterCard and Visa translates into confidence for end users. The flexibility from easy ‘onboarding’ – the addition of new NFC services - also makes it attractive for new high value services such as mobile identification, coupon redemption, loyalty programs and transit cards. The availability of this fully certified NFC SIM on the market provides a strategic time-to-market advantage for mobile operators and banks looking to deploy NFC massively.

“Our involvement and experience in the telecommunications and banking sectors have enabled us to create a high end security device that leverages the strengths of these two industries,” commented Frédéric Vasnier, Senior Vice President at Gemalto. “Combined with the fact that our high availability Trusted Service Management centers in Singapore, the US and France have received certification by MasterCard and Visa, Gemalto is offering a unique service footprint to support mobile NFC deployment anywhere in the world.”

¹ CEPAS stands for Contactless ePurse Application

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2011 annual revenues of €2 billion and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries.

We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations offer more ways for our clients to enhance the convenience and security of people’s digital lives.

Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.