The new NFC-based payment service launched last month by Hungarian operator Magyar Telekom is offering subscribers SIM cards with a key difference, claims vendor Giesecke & Devrient.

The service launched by the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary is the first to offer a NFC SIM featuring a Cipurse applet, the vendor said.

Cipurse is a security standard developed by the Open Standard for Public Transportation (OSPT) Alliance to address the needs of public transport authorities for fare collection systems that are useable with technology such as NFC but are also interoperable.

According to G&D, future applications for the SIM include payment via mobile devices on public transport or taxis.

Following a one-year pilot programme run by the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association, Magyar Telekom launched a mobile wallet service called Telekom MobilTarca at the end of November.  And the operator’s two local rivals — Vodafone and Telenor — are keen to follow.

G&D said it was also the first vendor to supply a contactless smart card based on the Cipurse specification in 2013, which was implemented in Brazil.