The GSM Association has been rearing to go for a while now with its Pay-Buy Mobile initiative with the ultimate goal of making contactless payment more the norm than the exception, but naturally, the GSMA isn't the only standards body that wants in on the action. ETSI -- the European Telecommunications Standards Institute -- has just decided on the final piece of what will ultimately become Europe's NFC standard. It seems the little matter of communication between the NFC circuitry and the phone's SIM was the holdup, and now that it's settled, the GSMA says it'll "[enable] mobile operators to prepare for the rollout of contactless payment services and other applications that make use of this flexible short-range radio technology." If there's one surefire way to redouble support for a new technology, it's by standardizing it -- now, let's just hope those standards start to cross borders.
NFC (Near Field Communication – short range radio transfer) realizes ad-hoc network connections between small electronic devices at a frequency of 13.56 Mhz, at a range of less than 20 centimeters. Due to ETSI's decision, network providers can finally start their unified, contactless payment services, which will surely be followed by similar solutions from MasterCard and VISA. Of course the NFC can also be used for purposes other than payments.
Translated by Szaszati
