Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom to Issue Home-Grown NFC Dongle

 

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TaipeiTaiwan
Scope: 
Rollout
Status: 
Planned
Launch: 
Nov 2010
Main Application: 
Payment, ticketing and service discovery
Mobile Operator: 
Chunghwa Telecom
Service Provider (application): 
EasyCard Corp./President Chain Store Corp. (icash-EasyCard)
Service Provider (application): 
Taishin Bank (MasterCard PayPass)
Service Provider (application): 
E.Sun Bank (MasterCard PayPass)
Merchants: 
10,000 (EasyCard), plus PayPass merchants
Users: 
10,000-plus dongle available
NFC Handsets: 
N/A
TSM*: 
N/A
Secure Element: 
Other
Other Vendors: 
Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories (NFC/Bluetooth dongle design), Foxlink (NFC/Bluetooth dongle), NXP Semiconductors (embedded chip, NFC chip) (likely)

Taiwan’s largest mobile operator developed its own NFC bridge device to showcase NFC technology at a large flora exhibition in Taipei starting in November. The devices or "dongles" will come embedded with both full NFC and Bluetooth chips, along with payment and ticketing applications stored on secure chips. The key-ring devices will communicate with users’ mobile phones via a Bluetooth connection. Users will be able to tap the devices on RFID tags embedded in displays throughout the expo to receive information on their handset screens. They will also be able to tap to pay at merchant outlets or for transit ticketing, with the applications stored on secure chips in the dongles. 

NFC Times Take: 

Although it had hoped to showcase services on full NFC phones for the big expo, Chunghwa Telecom is making due with dongles. The devices follow the same concept as NFC/Bluetooth stickers from France-based Twinlinx, that is, the user's device containing the NFC chip communicates with the user's separate mobile phone via a Bluetooth connection. Twinlinx would not have been ready with enough stickers for Chunghwa Telecom, which in any case wanted a home-grown device to show off for the expo. The telco has received funding from the government for NFC projects and needed to deliver at least 10,000 users this year to meet its commitments. But it remains to be seen whether the telco’s NFC Bluetooth dongle will make it past its initial run of 10,000 devices for the show.

 

 

* Trusted Service Manager: Defined loosely to include companies or other organizations securely distributing, provisioning and managing applications, generally over the air, on secure elements in NFC mobile phones; or licensing their platforms for this purpose.
N/A: Not available or not application
Last update: Sept 2010

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