Three Dutch mobile operators and three banks in the country are collaborating on a unified m-payments system, having conducted research which claims to prove it is both “technically and commercially feasible” to create a shared national infrastructure., it was widely reported.  The alliance is being created by KPN and the local units of T-Mobile and Vodafone, along with finance players ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank, and the intention is to establish a joint-venture company to manage the rollout. The aim is to enable m-payment transactions using near field communication (NFC) technology, with the supporting payment software to be stored on a secure part of the SIM card. It could also potentially be opened to support contactless ticketing or loyalty cards.

The announcement comes after a recent period of enhanced activity related to NFC. In the US, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are believed to be planning a joint pilot, with Visa and Bank of America separately also undertaking trials; in Asia, SK Telecom, KDDI and SoftBank Mobile are creating a compatible NFC system across Japan and South Korea; China Unicom has recently also created a centre to oversee its NFC activities, backed by a hefty financial investment; and in the UK, Orange and Barclaycard have also announced a partnership in this field.