Thursday, November 15, 2007

Far EasTone to participate in GSMA led SWP-based NFC testing and Conexus flat-rate international data roaming service

Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 14 November 2007]

The GSM Association (GSMA), at the 2007 GSMA Asia Congress held in Macao, on November 13 announced it will invite 12 mobile telecom carriers from several countries to undertake application tests of NFC (near field communication) contactless payment services based on the SWP (Single Wire Protocol) standard. Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) to be the only participant from Taiwan, according to industry sources.

In addition to FET, participants in the GSMA test project include KT Freetel from South Korea and Maxis in Malaysia as well as operators in Singapore, Australia, the US and France, the sources pointed out. LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics will provide SWP-supporting handsets for use in the tests, the sources indicated.

In other news, the Conexus Mobile Alliance, formerly the Asia-Pacific Mobile Alliance, also on November 13 announced it will launch uniform per-day pricing for international data roaming services among its members in the first quarter of 2008, the sources indicated. FET is the only Taiwan-based member of Conexus, the sources noted.

Other members of Conexus are KT Freetel from South Korea, NTT DoCoMo of Japan, Hutchison of Hong Kong, PT Indosat Tbk from Indonesia, StarHub from Singapore, Smart of the Philippines and Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, both from India.

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