Indosat has successfully completed the first Indonesian trial of Mobile Connect - the GSMA standard for mobile identity services - in partnership with the GSMA and Ericsson.
Through Mobile Connect, Indosat – a member of the Ooredoo Group - is providing a simple, convenient and secure log-in and authentication solution via any mobile device to its customers.
Mobile Connect allows consumers to safely access mobile and digital services such as e-commerce, entertainment, banking, health and digital entertainment as well as e-government portals via their mobile phones. It provides secure access to these services as well as greater privacy and robust data protection. This higher level of protection is particularly important for the growing number of Indonesian consumers accessing these services from their mobile phone.
With the trial in Indonesia, Ooredoo and Indosat join other telecom operators across the world working to help ensure that universal mobile identity authentication becomes a global standard. For this trial, Indosat and the GSMA partnered with Ericsson who provided the underlying platform for digital authentication that enables Mobile Connect.
Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “Ensuring the security of our customers’ personal data and privacy whether they are accessing readily available digital content and services, banking services or government portals is our first priority. With the GSMA’s Mobile Connect service we will be a trusted partner for our customers in the digital/online space, ensuring safety and offering the highest level of protection available.”
Indosat’s initial trial involved enabling Mobile Connect on its e-commerce marketplace, Cipika, offering a convenient way for Indonesians to purchase regional food, handicrafts and products online. Alongside this, Cipika is also expanding into other verticals such as mobile phones, electronic gadgets and digital entertainment vouchers. With Mobile Connect, consumers can access the market place from their mobile number in a secure and convenient manner without any need to remember logins and passwords.
“Indosat is committed to building one of the strongest digital ecosystems in Asia Pacific,” said Alex Rusli, Indosat CEO and President Director. “Moving forwards we hope to roll out Mobile Connect across most of our services and partners meaning that our customers can access this digital ecosystem in a secure and convenient way by simply picking up their mobile numbers.”
As the service develops Ooredoo will work with other Mobile Operators locally and globally to drive scale and usage of Mobile Connect, helping to create a global standard which also benefits services providers, locally and globally. Alongside this, Ooredoo is working to make services such as carrier billing available across multiple devices and via the web, increasing the choice available to customers across its footprint.
“Consumers are increasingly concerned over the security of their digital identity and mobile operators are ideally positioned to help to manage this by ensuring they can interact and access services in a private, trusted and secure way,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “This trial in Indonesia is an important step in the acceleration and adoption of GSMA Mobile Connect and underscores the need to establish a consistent and standardised set of services for managing digital authentication and identity globally.”
