Three mobile operators – o2 Telefónica, Telekom and Vodafone – have engaged in the European Union’s largest “POTENTIAL” pilot to test one of the focused use cases of digital identities for SIM registration and activation. The EU is the key driver of ensuring digitalisation and uses of digital identity, leading four field pilots. The MNOs will participate in one to explore the value of digital identities for SIM-activated customers.
The EU has embarked on other large scale knowledge pilots to test technical specifications for the EU digital identity wallet and invest in relevant applications for travel, healthcare, banking and government IDs.
The POTENTIAL Consortium, which was joined by technology partner IDEMIA, is concentrated on developing digital identity prototypes for 6 specific applications in the wallet which include SIM registrations, payments, digital drivers’ licenses, medical prescriptions, e-government services and remote electronic signatures.
The European Commission is a significant funding resource of digital wallet pilots, investing €46 million from the Digital Europe Programme. A specific cross-payments pilot aligned with the digital identity wallet was also undertaken by the NOBID Consortium to explore secured and quick transactions and interoperability for payments infrastructure.
19 countries are members of the POTENTIAL consortia, tasked with developing the architecture of their own EU digital identity wallet. The MNO pilots will test digital identities on thousands of SIM customers.
As a biometric solution provider in the consortium, IDEMIA could integrate their biometrics in MNO pilots to offer customers insight over how their data is used.
