Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 28 November 2007]
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) on November 27 said that it will begin with a trial NFC (near field communication) service in cooperation with Taipei Smart Card Corporation in January, utilizing the T80 NFC-enabled handset from BenQ.
The Telecommunication Laboratories of CHT has been in charge of the development of the Combi SIM card needed for the NFC-enabled phone, utilizing secure smart card and NFC chip solutions from NXP Semiconductors, according to sources at CHT.
The T80 will be used for a number of NFC applications as electronic ticketing and payment in Taipei's rapid transit system as well as to store value-added records and to download advertisements and traffic information, said CHT sources.
The trial NFC service will begin in January 2008 for three months before the inauguration of commercial operations slated for the first half of 2008, revealed the sources, noting that the NFC service will be further expanded when the more advanced SWP (single wire protocol) technology becomes more mature.
In other news, Vibo Telecom, another Taiwan-based 3G mobile service operator, plans to launch on November 28 its own NFC-based service, utilizing either an integrated smart card composed of an USIM (universal SIM) and a smart transit card or a mobile phone, according to market sources.
CHT to launch NFC service utilizing the T80 NFC handset from BenQ
Photo: Kaddy Chung, Digitimes, November 2007
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