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New Ez-Link Contactless Smart Cards Converge Transit and Payment Applications

 

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Adi Tedjasaputra.
by Adi Tedjasaputra

EZ-Link Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA), will make new Ez-Link contactless smart cards available for purchase in Singapore from Monday. The new contactless smart cards are compliant with Contactless e-Purse Smart Card Application Specification (CEPAS) and expected to replace the existing EZ-Link cards currently used to pay for public bus and train rides in Singapore.

The new Multi-Purpose Stored Value (MPSV) card is also expected to provide more features than the existing EZ-link cards. When purchasing the new card, commuters no longer need to pay travel deposit. The maximum stored value of S$500 and its 5-year life span would provide convenience for purposes other than paying for transit fares, such as Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), Electronic Parking System (EPS) and retail payments.

RFID Source.In the first quarter of 2009, cardholders would be able to use it for paying purchases in schools, printing services, F&B outlets and private buses. Later in 2009, 7-Eleven stores, libraries, taxis, vending machines, Singapore Pools and hospitals would be able to accept the new card as a means of payment for transactions less than S$100.

The convergence of mass transit and micropayment applications on the new contactles smart cards will likely pose a challenge to the market dominance of NETS (Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore) in retail sector. NETS itself has identified the estimated $1.5 bilion transit market in Singapore as an expansion area, according to NETS' CEO Poh Mui Hoon as quoted by The Straits Times.

In recent years, Asia Pacific consumers have seen a growing Near Field Communication (NFC) trials, Mobile Wallet and Digital Money applications, which use short-range RFID technology. While most contactless smart card applications still use cards due to various reasons, mobile phones and USB sticks have started to emerge as alternative devices.

The writer is the Founder of RFID Asia - The Prominent RFID Community in Asia.


* Comments (2) *


Japan has taken a route of Felica and NFC. Singapore is going in CEPAS direction. Both are contactless technologies. I am not sure what are the pros and cons of these? Any idea?
- William -


Comparing FeliCa, NFC and CEPAS is like comparing apples and oranges. FeliCa is a contactless IC card technology developed by a Japanese company - Sony. NFC is a short-range wireless technology applicable to a wide range of devices. CEPAS is a national (Singapore) specification for contactless electronic payment, which can provide a level playing field for NETS and EZ-Link to "compete", with regards to the vision of an interoperable national electronic payment platform. As a matter of fact, the previous version of EZ-Link cards used FeliCa. However, there would not be a level playing field if the new platform was built on FeliCa.
- Adi Tedjasaputra -


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Singapore's First NFC Public Trial Launched

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Eunice Sari.
by Eunice Sari

After six weeks of internal Near Field Communication (NFC) service trial involving 30 participants, EZ-Link and StarHub today launched a new phase of trial involving pre-selected customers at the Partners Event held at The Arts House in Singapore.

 



In the next three days, both EZ-Link and Starhub will distribute 1000 NFC-enabled handsets to their pre-selected customers.NFC Demonstration EZ-Link. The trial participants, in the next 6 months, will have an opportunity to use their new iWOW SZ1.0 handsets for contactless payment services as well as to download information from NFC tags and smart posters available at 32 bus stops along Orchard Road, Wisma Atria Shopping Mall, Orchard MRT station's concourse level, 500 ClearChannel bus shelters, 9 Golden Village Cineplexes and Sony Gallery Stores in Singapore.

Using NFC tags and smart posters conforming to the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) X 6319-4 or FeliCa standard protocol, the trial participants in Singapore can expect a similar user experience with i-mode FeliCa services that have been used in Japan since 2003.

Chua Thian Yee and iWOW SZ1.0 handset.Singapore Telecommunication (Singtel) and Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore (NETS) have also announced a plan to embark on similar public NFC service trial early next year in cooperation with Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

The writer is an ICT Consultant and Researcher with various affiliations to academic and industry organizations. Her current research interest includes ICT4D, m-Learning, e-Learning, Web 2.0, healthcare, wireless and mobile technology.


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