Focus

Near Field Communications (NFC)

UICC and LTE Together: Benefits and Possibilities

Contactless payment is a convenient and fast way for consumers to pay for goods or services. Contactless payment cards contain a smart card that allows consumers to pay by simply holding the card close to a reader. This form of payment has become very popular in the United States for both retail and transit payments. With consumers so attached to their mobile phones, it makes sense to allow them to use the contactless payment standard to pay with it in the LTE environment. This is where NFC comes in.

The quick facts on NFC: NFC operates at 13.56 MHz and transfers data at up to 424 Kbits/second. Two NFC-compatible devices can communicate when they are within four centimeters of one another. NFC is compatible with other known wireless technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards.

When used in a mobile phone, the NFC device behaves exactly like a contactless card and can be used in transport fare payment systems such as Mifare or Calypso as well as contactless payment such as Visa Wave, MasterCard PayPass, JCB J-speedy or American Express ExpressPay. Other uses of NFC include "smart posters," which allow people passing by ad displays to wave their NFC-enabled handsets over RFID tags to access information and promotional items, and transferring files from one device to another – such as a photo on a mobile phone to a printer.

Security is a key consideration with NFC. Retail and transit payments with a mobile phone require wireless carriers, retailers, transport providers and banks to all work together. All of the transaction and payment card accounts information need to be kept secure and apart. For this reason, NFC requires the use of a "secure element." The UICC is the preferred technology for the secure element that stores subscriber details – such as credit card account numbers, transit accounts, mobile phone details – and keeps these details separate and secure.