Industry giants develop Asian mobile electronic network

Industry giants develop Asian mobile electronic network

SINGAPORE (AFP): Standard Chartered Plc. of Britain and U.S
software giant Microsoft Corp. teamed up with world leaders in
cellular communications Monday to spearhead the development of
mobile electronic services in Asia.

Mobile phone leaders Motorola Inc., LM Ericsson Telefon AB of
Sweden, Nokia Corp. of Finland and 10 other groups will be part
of the 15-group alliance.

Led by Standard Chartered Bank, the Asia Mobile Electronic
Services Alliance (AMESA) would produce a multi-function bank
card that will give users access to a whole range of electronic
services, officials said.

"It is the world's first cross industry partnership for cross
border mobile electronic services," AMESA project manager
Nicholas Fung Ho Chung told a news conference in Singapore.

The alliance, which also includes credit card giant Visa
International, would give customers in Asia access to banking,
Internet commerce, bill payment, trading and information, using
smart card technology.

Services accessed would run into billions of dollars and "the
sky is the limit for us," Fung said, adding the alliance would
keep its door open for new participants, including other banks.

Smart card transactions are now typically carried out at fixed
terminals such as computers or multi-media kiosks.

"By combining the convenience and flexibility of the smart
card and the mobile phone, the bank card will enable customers to
access a whole range of electronic services," a statement issued
at the news conference said.

The services would be commercially available beginning in the
second half of 2000 in Hong Kong and Singapore.

"The two economies were chosen because they are the cutting
edge of the information technology revolution in the region,"
said Mervyn Davies, Standard Chartered group executive director
for Hong Kong, China and Northeast Asia.

Davies, speaking in a video conference from Hong Kong, said
"this is the first time 15 industry leaders have come together,
each one bringing with it, expertise in infrastructure,
technology, services and a wide market reach."

The others in the alliance include Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd.'s mobile phone unit SingTel Mobile,
Internet unit SingNet and postal services arm Singapore Post.

The alliance also comprises IT firm Gemplus Technologies and
Hong Kong mobile phone operator SmarTone and Hong Kong Post.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Open
University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore
will conduct research and development and market surveys and run
pilot tests.

Standard Chartered, with 250 offices located in all of Asia
except North Korea, will provide the regional financial
infrastructure and introduce new financial services to AMESA's
customers.

SingTel Mobile, SingNet and SmarTone would bring to the
alliance their extensive mobile and Internet networks.

Gemplus with its smart card expertise and Microsoft with its
recent smart card for Windows will provide the multi-function
smart card technology based on Visa's "open platform."

Open platform allows card issuers flexibility on operating
systems for transactions, said Fung, head of chip card and e-
commerce in Standard Chartered's consumer banking group.

Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia will lend their cutting edge
mobile communications technology and provide the handsets while
Hong Kong Post and Singapore Post and their certification
authorities will provide domestic and cross-border electronic
identification services.

Davies said the smart card's ability to store and process
large amounts of information securely would in time make it an
integral part of people's lives.

"The mobile phone with increasingly interactive features, with
its web browsing makes it the perfect device to perform the
multi-function card. It will enable customers to have easy access
to a whole range of services and transactions anytime, anywhere,"
he said.