NFC Times Exclusive – Alliance Digital Technology Co., the joint venture of five Taiwanese mobile operators and transit fare-collection operator EasyCard Corp., is steering away from the TSM business, which was the reason it formed three years ago, NFC Times has learned. It will add a focus on providing mobile ID and authentication, the JV told NFC Times.
The joint venture, also known as ADTC, acknowledges that the late launch of its TSM has put it in a difficult situation in the fast-evolving Taiwanese market, and the president of the group appears to be blaming, at least in part, its TSM vendor, Safran Morpho, now called Safran Identity & Security, because of delays by Safran in delivering the TSM platforms to the joint venture and bugs in the technology. The ID & Security division is part of France-based Safran group, which has put the division up for sale.
Plans now call for merging the ADTC TSM with a separate TSM developed earlier by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest telco and a founding member of ADTC, Patrick Hsu, ADTC president, told NFC Times. The telco JV would host the combined TSM platform, he indicated. But one source believes ADTC's TSM will not continue and the new TSM will essentially be a Chunghwa Telecom TSM.
