Japanese cellcos go standard with NFC
DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank form consortium to expand services and reduce costs by embracing international systems
Published: 21 December, 2011
READ MORE: Jamaica | Standards | NFC
While most cellcos are just forming alliances and wondering how to make money out of NFC, Japan's operators are years ahead in mobile payments. However, as in other mobile technologies, the penalty for early adoption is that the carriers are stuck with non-standard systems. Now, the three main players - NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank - have formed the NFC Consortium to move Japan's contactless payments platform for international standards.
This will see the three cellcos moving beyond their current system, based on Sony's FeliCa technology. Although Sony has worked closely over the years with NFC majors like NXP, and has contributed to international specifications, FeliCa remains out of step with those, having been rolled out in Japan several years ago. The new group says it will now incorporate two standards, known as NFC 'type A' and 'type B', alongside the Sony platform.
Among other benefits, this will make it easier for operators to buy NFC-enabled handsets from outside Japan at an affordable price. This shows how Japanese carriers are starting to loosen their traditional close ties with their domestic vendors, whose phones they have been able to customize extensively. However, the belated rise of open smartphones in the country is driving demand for non-Japanese devices, but currently, these have to be modified to support FeliCa and the operators' 'wallet phone' ecosystem - called Osaifu Keita and run by DoCoMo - which increases costs and restricts choice.
The group said in a statement that it "seeks to create an environment in Japan where service providers can offer efficient, low cost NFC services based on common standards and rules adopted by the three mobile operators."
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