MIFARE

Public Transport goes mobile in Russia 5. March 2015

NXP today announced that it is collaborating with CardsMobile, an investment project of iFree Ventures, to securely connect a vast network of mobile payment services – including the transport systems in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg; retailers and restaurants – to create an ecosystem of innovative, secure Smart Cities in Russia.

Available immediately the new mobile wallet, named ‘The Wallet’, from CardsMobile is powered by NXP MIFARE® products and the NXP PN65T near field communication (NFC) mobile transaction solution. The Wallet allows consumers to download their credit, loyalty and travel cards to an in-device smartphone wallet application. The smartphone can then be swiped across point of sale and ticketing terminals for instant payment in tens of thousands of stores, restaurants, train stations, buses and trams across Russia.

By joining forces with NXP, the leader in secure IC solutions, CardsMobile is taking a significant step in transforming Russian cities to secure, convenient and smart mobile payment hubs. Secure payments on mobile devices provide consumers with convenient, easy-to-use payment options that no longer rely on a physical wallet full of plastic cards – with the added benefit of reducing lengthy queues that are commonplace at payment points and ticketing desks across Russia.

“Today we are one step closer to replacing the traditional wallet in Russia with a secure, smart application that allows customers to replace cash, coins and plastic cards with a mobile smartphone payment application,’’ said Kirill Gorynya, CEO and co-owner of CardsMobile. “Secure, connected cities are no longer a vision in Russia – they are a smartphone-enabled reality simplifying the daily lives of consumers. We are excited to join the ranks of Apple Pay in changing the future of payments around the world.”

“NXP is delighted to work with an innovative company such as CardsMobile to create a ground-breaking, secure mobile payments infrastructure across Russia’s major cities,” said Jeff Miles, vice president, business development, NXP Semiconductors. “Our collaboration with CardsMobile is built upon NXP’s long-time expertise and leading position in secure mobile payments, as well as our experience in key market segments such as banking, public transport and mobile transactions.”

NXP is the industry’s only provider of a complete identification and transit ticketing solution, from low end ticketing to high-end secure microcontroller platforms and corresponding reader ICs and SAMs. Transportation and Ticketing Smart Cards and ICs, a report from ABI Research, confirmed NXP as the global leader in the implementation and innovation, with a global transport ticketing market share of 77%. Globally, over 1 billion units of secure NXP elements support mobile payments and bank cards, access management schemes, mass transit infrastructures, device authentication, and eGoverment solutions such as ePassports, driver licenses, national ID and health cards.

The Wallet will be available on more than 40 smartphones, including HTC, Philips and Sony models. The Wallet is available either pre-loaded on smartphones at point of purchase; in Q2 of 2015 it can also be downloaded from GooglePlay.

Additional Data:

NXP and CardsMobile will provide mobile ticketing across the transport infrastructure in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, including:

  • More than 12 million passengers per day or roughly 4.2 billion passengers per year in Moscow.
  • Will be available at 196 stations in the Moscow Underground in addition to 5,700 buses, 1500 trolley buses and 920 trams across Moscow.
  • More than 1.6 billion passengers per year in St Petersburg.
  • Will be available at 67 stations in the St Petersburg Underground in addition to 3,500 buses, 700 trolley buses and 850 trams across St Petersburg.