First secure SMS-based mobile payment service deployed
Gemalto announced that it is providing Belgian mobile operator BASE with a comprehensive solution which allows its subscribers to perform secure payment by just sending an SMS. This revolutionary service is extremely convenient, as it enables consumers to pay with their mobile phone anytime, anywhere, quickly and easily. Always available, it also permits merchants to get paid immediately.
Gemalto supplied BASE with a mobile payment application compatible with third generation SIM cards, incorporating the m-banxafe technology designed by Banksys, the company behind the authorization, security and guarantee of electronic payments in Belgium. Gemalto also provided the specific personalization services required to guarantee the highest levels of security for SMS-based transactions. The service went live on March 20, 2007.
This mobile-payment capability targets all kinds of practical services such as home deliveries, taxi rides or baby-sitting. Through an easy-to-navigate menu, the payee enters a payment request into his mobile phone. The payer receives this request, specifying the amount and the name of the payee, on his handset screen and accepts the transaction by entering the secret code he selected at service activation. Then both the customer and the merchant receive an SMS confirming the transaction.
The m-banxafe technology enables a link between the SIM card and the subscriber’s banking card and account. During the activation process, the customer selects his mobile payment PIN code through the menu of his mobile phone. Then he inserts his banking card into the point of sales terminal of a BASE shop or into an ATM. He just has to select the activation option of the menu to create the link between his banking details and the PIN code on the SIM card. Banksys’ m-banxafe enables reloading of the calling credit and live access to the account balance. This application has been designed in cooperation with all Belgian banks, ensuring the same level of security as that achieved with a banking card. From now on, all new Base subscribers will be issued an m-banxafe-enabled SIM card.