Telecom Italia’s mobile arm (TIM) is to roll-out an advanced SIM card from next year that will allow customers to use their mobile devices to purchase a wide range of goods and services, including train and bus tickets, parking, theatre seats, concert tickets, and hotel rooms. The Italian operator announced this week that it has signed an agreement with Movincom, an Italian mobile retail consortium, to facilitate the service. Payments for services will make use of methods offered by banks who sign up to the venture. Telecom Italia said it has developed a new SAT (SIM Application Toolkit) technology solution, which authenticates the phone number from which each transaction originates. The configuration-free service will be available on all its mobile devices, the operator said.

Specific menus are to be integrated directly into the SIM card, which will guide customers through the process and make it quick and easy to make purchases. Orders placed for goods or services are dispatched by a text message generated automatically by the application. The text message features the purchaser’s mobile number but no sensitive data about the selected method of payment. The Movincom Consortium currently has more than 650 operational services on board, and is predicted to rise to around 1,500