Belgians claim first secure mobile payment system

BELGIANS are claiming an unlikely 'World's First'. This time it's the first ever secure SMS-based mobile phone payment service. Actually, it's a very convenient way to pay for things.

The system has been devised by Gemalto - a company formed from Axalto and SIM card supplier, Gemplus. It works in conjunction with m-banxafe a technology developed by Banksys which supplies all the major Belgian banks.

Gemalto says the system can be utilised to pay for virtually anything from home deliveries and baby-sitting to taxi fares. We'd like to see them try that one with a London Cabbie.

Anyway, once you've signed up, the recipient simply keys a payment request into the mobile phone. The payee receives the payment details by SMS and accepts it using the appropriate PIN code.

Both payee and recipient get confirmation by text (SMS).

In order to activate the service, it's necessary to posses a 'third generation' SIM card - which Gemalto is, of course, more than happy to supply to operators. The first customer for this app is Belgium's Base network operator.

Base reckons all future SIM cards it sends out will be able to support this payment service. The way you activate your handset is clever. First you pick a suitable PIN number and fire it off.

Then you trot down to the nearest ATM/ hole in the wall and confirm that you do indeed want to use the service and that your PIN number is correct.

Such a system would be great for anybody attending outdoor events where making a purchase with anything except cash is nigh on impossible.

The chances of it being widely accepted by all the UK's banks, for example, look pretty slim, however. Plus it won't be much use until everybody has the new SIM cards which normally takes around 18 months (that being the longest contract time in the UK). µ

L'INQ
Gemalto