The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of Singapore, and Watchdata have partnered to develop on mobile payment solutions.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is one of the primary models for mobile payments. It consists of a NFC component, an antenna and the secure element (SIM card) where host applications (e.g. payment application) are stored. The current solution is restricted to specific mobile phones and cannot be widely adopted. Recognising this limitation, IME and Watchdata work together for a unified solution.

The research development will leverage on IME’s innovative ASIC solution and Watchdata’s expertise in system implementation to develop a contactless ASIC for use in SIM card along with SIM IC and microcontroller for contactless payment application. This solution can be implemented and universally used in any mobile phone. Users will be able to use his or her mobile phone to launch contactless applications in order to perform a payment. Through the contact interface, the SIM acts as a standard SIM card to execute subscriber’s identity authentication to the mobile phone. The contactless feature can be used for services such as transportation, movie ticketing, mobile banking, access control and even retail outlets.

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