By Sureka Galagoda
The agreement to launch Near Field Communication (NFC) was exchanged yesterday evening between Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel Chairman Nimal Welgama and Senior General Manager FeliCa business Division Sony Corporation Japan Isumi Kawanishi in the presence of MP Namal Rajapakse.
This landmark partnership between Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel and Sony Corporation Japan will herald a new era in m-Commerce.
NFC is a short range high frequency wireless communication technology enabling the exchange of data between devices. Under the partnership, Mobitel with the support of Sony Corporation will develop deploy and manage a countrywide NFC platform that is based on “FeliCa” contactless IC communication technology developed by Sony and adopted by and used in Japan as well as many other countries and will facilitate various utility sectors consumer applications in the country.
This technology will support functionalities such as transportation tickets, boarding passes, m-Money, online payments, student/employee ID cards, access control, m-Tickets, loyalty points, multi function cards as well as consumer electronics. Kawanishi said that they have already delivered over 400 mln units around the world and is happy to be in Sri Lanka for the first time to partner with Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel to create history .