Garanti Bank, which is the leading name of payment systems sector in Turkey, and Avea, which is the GSM operator that makes its subscribers talk most in Turkey, effectuate NFC – Near Field Communication technology in all mobile phones for the first time in Turkey and the world. The new SIM cards having NFC technology will meet users in July

Avea and Garanti Break New Grounds in the World

Mobile payment solution, which is the joint project of Avea and Garanti and is developed with the supports of Mastercard and Gemalto, eliminates the obligation to buy NFC technology compatible mobile phones and makes the current phones of subscribers compatible with NFC technology thanks to the new SIM cards. Therefore, subscribers will be able to easily and rapidly make payment at thousands of points in Turkey and the world having contactless payment terminals via their mobile phones without any need to change their mobile phones and will utilize the advantages of payment solutions.

Garanti Bank and Avea expect to issue 100,000 SIM+antenna NFC add-ons this year

In addition, NFC based mobile payment solutions, which have been only presented to mobile phone users within the framework of pilot applications until today, will be offered to the general use of all subscribers by July with the cooperation of Garanti and Avea for the first time. Subscribers will be able to make their mobile phones compatible with contactless payments and many new applications to follow this with the SIM cards with they will buy from Avea dealers by this date for the first time in the world.

With this innovation, Avea subscribers will make contactless payments with the Trink feature of their mobile phones. Thanks to this new technology having two types as credit and pre-paid, customers will be able to select the card they will make payment during their shopping. The new generation NFC, which will be used in public transportation vehicles (bus, subway, ship, train) in cities where Trink is used in transportation, will also be valid in many places like building entrances, stadiums, food and beverage automatic machines. Avea subscribers will also be able to load KGS feature to their mobile phones like other applications loaded to mobile phones. Moreover, with the “Campaign” feature, they will win discounts and gifts immediately by using the digital coupons to be sent to phones.

Making a speech in the press meeting held in the Cardist Fair, which is the heart of payment systems sector and is closely monitored by telecommunication sector, in order to promote the application, Avea CEO Erkan Akdemir said that it is one of the targets of Avea to break new grounds in mobile technologies and add value to the lives of its customers, since the first day of its establishment and added, “Near Field Communication Technology’ project, on which we have been working together with Garanti Bank, one of the leading brands of the sector, for nearly 1 year, is a part of our vision…”

Akdemir said, “This project we have effectuated together with Garanti Bank breaks new grounds not only in Turkey but also in the world… In the NFC works performed before, mobile phones having NFC feature had to be used and number of models was very restricted. However, we placed the needs and demands of our customers at the focus of our project and developed a new SIM card together with our business partners. Our customers will be able to utilize this technology without changing their current mobile phones by July. They will be able to use their mobile phones as Bonus Trink. In addition, mobile phones having Avea lines will also be able to replace identity cards for building entrances and exits, tickets for stadiums and concerts and even food cards and KGS passage cards.”

Garanti Payment Systems CEO Mehmet Sezgin said that their target as Garanti Bank is to “eliminate cash money” and therefore they develop innovative products and services to include payment systems much more in our lives. Sezgin said that they provided a new dimension for Bonus Trink, which provides fast payment for TL 35 or less, together with Avea by “breaking new grounds in Europe”.

Making a speech, Mehmet Sezgin said, “Now, our customers will load credit and pre-paid cards or both of them to their mobile phones. Our customers will be able to pay their transportation and car park fees, enter stadiums and perform all banking transactions with their mobile phones. There are currently many pilot projects which have not been presented to consumers yet. This work has a more improved content than current pilot applications in terms of its features. We are presenting a service to our customers independent of their phones to make them utilize the service by only changing their SIM cards. Our new work must be considered as not an alternative NFC application but the “last point” in NFC works. We are proud to present this technology to Turkish consumers “for the first time in the world.” I thank everyone who has made efforts.”

“We are continuously working on new technologies to make it possible for card holders to make payment more easily. Mastercard PayPass makes it possible for consumers to make fast and easy payment with their mobile phones without dealing with coins. Banks and consumers in Turkey have always been leading in maintaining innovative technologies. Therefore, we have broken so many new grounds in Turkey. All of our researches show that mobile payments will have an important position among all payments in the near future. We believe that this innovative solution which is launched today and can also be implemented in pre-paid cards will accelerate the development of NFC technology in Turkey and the region” said James Davlouros, Vice President for Innovative Platforms and Mobile Payments in MasterCard, which started the first contactless payment with the Bonus Trink of Garanti Bank for the first time in Europe.

Emphasizing that Turkey has a powerful and growing potential in contactless mobile market, which is very dynamic around the world, Gemalto Trusted Service Management (TSM) Director Remi de Fouchier said, “We, as Gemalto, are very proud to contribute to the successful presentation of mobile contactless payment services which will present a brand new payment type to Turkish consumers in their shopping. We are very pleased to be with Garanti Bank and Avea in effectuating this creative vision.”