T-Mobile Employees Testing NFC Based Services

The Czech Republic's T-Mobile is launching internal trial operation of NFC (Near Field Communication) technology in order to test the possibility of using SIM cards as an appropriate tool for NFC communication. During the pilot operation, a group of selected employees will use NFC handsets/SIM cards to access the T-Mobile building and their offices, print documents on the network printer and make payments in the canteen.

The first results of the trial operation should be available in the second half of this year.

From a mobile operator's view, a telephone is an ideal tool for NFC technology. Given the areas of use - primarily for identification, but in the future also for payments for example - the security of the entire technology is of utmost importance. Unlike in a number of other NFC tests, T-Mobile has selected SIM cards as secure storage media.

The pilot operation is being conducted at the T-Mobile building in Prague's Roztyly district. Selected employees will use NFC to access the building, print documents and make payments. The trial operation will also focus on improving the user interface in handsets, testing the remote secured NFC data management on SIM cards and connecting this system to the operator's other IT systems. The evaluation of the pilot operation will serve as a basis for the deployment of NFC technology in other projects implemented with external partners.

T-Mobile cooperated on the development of NFC SIM cards exclusively with Gemalto. The telephones for the pilot operation were provided by Samsung; the model used is an NFC variant of the Samsung S5230 Star, a touch-screen smartphone. In the near future, T-Mobile plans to test Gemalto solutions making NFC technology available also on phones that are not NFC-enabled (whereas an NFC SIM card is sufficient).

The other companies participating in the pilot operation at the T-Mobile building are Xerox, provider of printing systems and services; Alimex, provider of the access system; and Eurest, which operates the dining facility and cash-register systems in T-Mobile's canteen.