Turkcell (News - Alert), a Turkey-based telecommunications and technology company, in conjunction with Bank Asya, has launched the very first SIM-based Near Field Technology road toll payment application on T11, the company’s own branded smartphone.
With this application, there is no need for plastic transmission cards (KGS) on freeway turnpikes or even while crossing bridges. Subscribers of T11 smartphone can access Bank Asya’s KGS application and upload cash through the Cep-T Cüzdan (mobile wallet) app on their mobile phones without the need to visit a bank or a payment outlet at the turnpikes.
For now, the app is available only on Turkcell’s T11 smartphone only.
Cep-T Cüzdan is Turkcell’s mobile wallet service is based on NFC technology that aims to mirror the physical wallet into the mobile world. This service offers more value to customers than simply making payment. It offers functionalities such as loyalty and ticketing to ID applications and physical access. This app is available on Turkcell’s application store.
Cenk Bayrakdar, Turkcell’s chief new technology business officer, commented, “We have opened a new era with Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan, having become the first operator in the world to introduce a commercially available Mobile Wallet solution, supporting multi bank applications based on a MasterCard (News - Alert) solution. And now, in collaboration with Bank Asya, and with the participation of Smartsoft, we have taken a revolutionary step, marking yet another global first with Cep T-Cüzdan in the transportation arena.”
“With this application, we not only offer our T11 customers the convenience of contactless transmission when using bridges and toll roads, but also remove the need to carry plastic cards by providing an end-to-end mobile experience that ranges from topping up TRY to applying for a KGS. Going forward, we will continue to pioneer ideas that facilitate our customers' lives, while revolutionizing their shopping behavior,” he added.
Turkey's three leading banks, Yapi Kredi, Garanti and Akbank, have recently completed the integration and have made their apps available on Cep-T Cüzdan.
In a development last month, Turkcell, in collaboration with Research in Motion (News 
- Alert), launched the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan for BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone customers in Turkey.
Trupti Kamath is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
