TRAVIK (otherwise known as Sixpack) has announced that given the now mature availability of trusted service management (TSM) products and services, there is no need to continue with its original plans for setting up one national TSM to support (Dutch) mobile contactless payments and related near-field-communication (NFC) services. Possibly worn down by the European Commission investigation, the initiative was already long behind its initial schedule to be the first European nationally coordinated NFC payments ecosystem.
Some level of cooperation and coordination is likely to continue in order to enable mobile NFC payments in the Dutch market – particularly in terms of contactless acceptance being promoted at the point of sale. Due to the growth of the TSM market, however, both the banks and mobile network operators (MNOs) can now effectively access and assess the supplier market to select services and products that will meet their needs.
TSM predictions
And there are many decisions to be made, each supporting different business and profit models. For example, businesses entering this space are deciding if they will opt to in-source a solution, or deploy an outsourced service for the different elements of their program. Additionally, we expect to see dual/multi-sourcing of service providers to prevent supplier lock-in and enable active price negotiation.
So should the European TSM marketplace be concerned by this announcement? We don’t believe so. TRAVIK (as was) is dead, long live best business practices now that banks and MNOs have a range of mobile NFC enabling options to choose from.
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