Etick brings the NFC mobile wallet to Iranian consumers with Irancell

Etick brings the NFC mobile wallet to Iranian consumers with Irancell

NFC mobile wallet projects are taking off all over the Middle East, and Etick and Irancell are bringing some NFC goodness to Iranian consumers. Just in case you needed any more evidence that NFC mobile payments are gearing up to explode globally this next year, today we want to let you know about a project taking off in Iran. One of the great things about NFC is that it is crossing geographical, economic and cultural barriers. There are projects the world over that use that same NFC you want in your smartphone, and although NFC payments and NFC mobile wallets are a small part of the NFC puzzle, it appears to be the side of the tech that is capturing businesses’ and consumers’ imagination at the moment. The cry we are hearing at the moment is that NFC isn’t just about payments, however, we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize the power and place NFC mobile wallets have in this nascent industry.

Etick has been in the NFC business for two years. With its new project it plans to act as the Trusted Service Manager (card integrator) for Irancell, helping the MNO to reach critical mass within Iran. What is interesting about the Etick NFC mobile wallet is the features that allow non-NFC phones to use its services based on already available technologies. NFC mobile wallets can be charged using USSD commands, SMS and GPRS.

How a consumer uses the Etick NFC mobile wallet on Irancell

The system works with NFC SIMs and single-wire protocol and allows consumers to charge their NFC mobile wallet and make purchases using NFC POS terminals within the country. Etick has also added the facility to enable or disable the NFC in their devices remotely through the network and transfer money in the wallet back to their account from anywhere at anytime, which is a really great security feature. If the consumer’s smartphone already NFC enabled, it’s just a a matter of swapping out SIM cards to enable the service. However, if the mobile phone isn’t an NFC smartphone, a “N-Flex” is required. N-Flex is a Gemalto product that attaches to a SIM card to bring NFC capabilities to a user’s phone.

Etick provisions banking information on to the consumer’s device and the user is set up and ready to use the device for ticketing, payments and even transportation purchases, including taxis.

Initially the NFC mobile wallet service is available in Mashhad and Ahwaz, which are two larger cities in Iran. The top-up process can be easily done via a contactless bank POS with both cash and from the magnet bank cards.

So, there is now an NFC mobile wallet available in Iran thanks to Etick and MTN-Inrancell, and we will be interested to see how this new service matures and how quickly adoption takes place.