NFC TIMES Exclusive – Chinese payments and mobile companies continue to look for ways to enable transit ticketing with smartphones, with projects in progress or expected using host card emulation, embedded secure elements and possibly even another contactless SIM from China Mobile, NFC Times has learned.
The projects include expected support for transit ticketing–probably in Shanghai to begin with–from Apple Pay, said a source. And the Chinese government is lending support to HCE-enabled ticketing in major cities, according to one technology supplier. Meanwhile, China’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile, is again working on a contactless SIM card, this one targeting transit fare collection on iPhones. (See photo.)
While still a prototype, if China Mobile introduces the SIM, it would be the second time in seven years in which the big telco has introduced a SIM card with a built-in contactless antenna. The project comes amid falling fortunes for SIM-based NFC wallets globally, including in China.