Viettel Telecom and Sony to Form Strategic Partnership on Smart Card Systems

Aim to Promote Smarter Lifestyles in Vietnam

Viettel Telecom Corporation (“Viettel Telecom”) and Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and will partner to research, develop and commercialize services based on NFC FeliCa contactless technology, for the Vietnamese market. These services are expected to include mobile e-money, identification, CRM and e-ticketing. The two companies will also collaborate on promoting these services and encouraging their adoption across a variety of industries in Vietnam.

Viettel and Sony share a vision for smartcard systems, whose introduction they believe will contribute to making people’s daily lives considerably easier and smarter. With smartcards, customers will be able to use their cards, mobile phones and devices of other shapes and sizes in schools, hospitals, retail locations, and various other settings.

“In addition to basic functions such as calling, SMS messaging, and internet browsing, Viettel customers can use their smartphones to transfer money and make payments through their bank accounts, with the BankPlus service. This is just one example of the many ways in which Viettel has been providing enhanced value in order to simplify customers’ lives with technology,” said Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung, General Director of Viettel Telecom. “Viettel’s pursuit of this goal will be boosted through our collaboration with Sony. We are confident that NFC FeliCa contactless technology has the potential to bring about new digital payment solutions in Vietnam.”

“We are very pleased to have come to this agreement with Viettel – a powerful and influential solutions provider in Vietnam,” said Mr. Kazuyuki Sakamoto, Senior General Manager at Sony Corporation’s FeliCa Business Division. “We will work hard to make a positive contribution to and enhance the solutions that Viettel provides, using Sony’s FeliCa technology. We will also leverage the wealth of experience that we have accumulated in Japan and Hong Kong, where many services – from transportation to e-payment to NFC-enabled mobile services – have adopted our FeliCa technology.”

As part of this partnership, Viettel and Sony will execute a trial run for NFC FeliCa smartcard solutions at Nhan Viet School and Nam Viet School, two schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Through this trial run, the companies will attempt to ascertain the feasibility of integrating e-money and identification systems with Viettel’s School Management System software, and explore other potential applications for the technology in this field.