Collaboration with Key Technology Partners Paves Way for Broader Adoption in Europe and North America
LOS ANGELES, June 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartSoft, a leading provider of card payment, card issuance, NFC payments and EMV chip-based training technologies and services to the global banking and payment industries announced a major breakthrough in NFC payments today. Together with partners Turkcell and Plastkart, the companies unveiled Europe's first MNO (Mobile Network Operator) Trusted Service Manager (TSM) mobile solution for NFC Payments approved by MasterCard. The announcement will help accelerate interest and deployment of NFC payment systems in Europe and the Americas, regions in which SmartSoft continues to strengthen its product and technology development and sales and marketing channels.
In collaboration with its supporting technology partners SmartSoft and Plastkart, Turkcell becomes Europe's first top mobile operator to successfully launch and commercialize an approved TSM solution by MasterCard. With the rapid deployment of contactless payment technologies, particularly in Europe, the new mobile platform offers consumers a secure, fast and fun way to shop using their mobile phones. With the new platform, customers will not be limited to daily shopping, since the new platform will also be offered to customers with transportation, campus, and loyalty applications in the very near future.
Turkcell continues to invest in mobile payments with its NFC-enabled Mobile Wallet service "Turkcell Cep-T Cuzdan" as well as the NFC Gateway and OTA Platforms developed by Turkcell Technology, Turkcell's fully owned subsidiary and one of Turkey's technology centers. "With our own NFC Gateway, OTA Platform and TSM that we developed, we are now providing an end-to-end solution for service providers who want to offer contactless services," commented Ali Salcı, Head of Mobile Financial Services, Turkcell. "Our NFC Gateway infrastructure allows multiple applications over one SIM card. As a result, the mobile phone can be used as a mobile wallet and within the framework of the Turkcell Cep-T Cuzdan Service, you can load bank cards onto your SIM card from participating banks. At Turkcell, helping our customers take full advantage of the evolving mobile world remains a top goal."
SmartSoft provides end-to-end solutions in banking payment systems. It has collaborated on a broad array of payment systems technology development projects for the entire banking and payment ecosystem for many years.
"This MasterCard approved platform is handset independent, and in full compliance with mobile payment standards," commentedMurat Guzel, General Manager, SmartSoft. "Our unique position in which our technology development teams view and work with the entire payment ecosystem has helped us collaborate with our partners to develop the banking back office infrastructure to seamlessly integrate and transfer the system's banking needs to the mobile payment platform, the result of which is Europe's first MasterCard approved, MNO owned TSM for NFC mobile payments. We have become both an enabler and a facilitator for banks and mobile operators and we value that trust our partners place in us."
Integrating, then launching Europe's first mobile MNO TSM solution for NFC payments underscores the leadership and innovation SmartSoft and its partners at Turkcell, Plastkart and MasterCard continue to showcase in NFC Payments," commented Ayse Sarigollu, President and Chief Executive Officer, SmartSoft. "Europe continues to lead the way in leading banking and payment technology innovation and I am thrilled to say that our company is at the forefront of NFC technology development. "As talks with our partners in Europe and the USA accelerate, we expect to soon help expand deployment of NFC payment systems into these key regions."
Financial institutions around the world collaborated on this project by carrying their experience from banking and finance fields into mobile payment systems. The developed TSM system possesses MasterCard's risk audit and NATO's safety certificates and is positioned in Plastkart the Middle East's largest card personalization Office.
About SmartSoft
SmartSoft provides secure, innovative payment solutions to the global payment and card issuance industry. The company provides end-to-end solutions for banking, financial organizations and payment companies. Its broad range of products, including card management systems, card issuance, NFC mobile payment solutions, EMV solutions and training, pre-paid cards, payment processing, e-banking, fraud solutions and decision management, integrated testing products, terminal/card kernel, and loyalty solutions. The company has been approved, recommended and awarded by renowned institutions such as EPCA, MasterCard, VISA, EMVCo, MULTOS, SESAMES and ISO. All of SmartSoft's products are developed in compliance with International Card Specifications EMVCo, VISA, MasterCard, EPCA and MULTOS. A European headquarters in Istanbul and a North American headquarters in Los Angeles are supported with sales, marketing, distribution, and technical support operations throughout Africa,Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. For more information, visit www.smartsoftww.com.
About Turkcell
Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey with 33.5 million subscribers and a market share of approximately 54% as of 2010 (Source: Operator's announcements). Turkcell is a leading regional player, with market leadership in five of the nine countries in which it operates with its approximately 60.4 million subscribers as of 2010. The Company reported a TRY9.0 billion ($6.0 billion) net revenue and total assets of TRY15.1 billion ($9.8 billion) for 2010. Turkcell covers 82% of the Turkish population through its 3G and 99.07% through its 2G technology supported network. Turkcell was one of the first among global operators to have implemented HSDPA+ and achieve a speed of 42.2 Mbps with the HSPA multi carrier solution. Turkcell has been listed on the NYSE and ISE since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Of Turkcell's share capital, 51.00% is held by Turkcell Holding, 0.05% by Cukurova Holding, 13.07% by Sonera Holding and 1.19% by others, while the remaining 34.69% is freely floated. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr.
