French MNOs are determined to double the quantity of NFC-equipped phones in the French market by the end of 2012, raising the total number to 2.5 million. Orange, the country’s largest mobile operator, is leading this mobile rollout.
Orange is providing NFC-enabled SIM cards to all new postpaid customers, the first MNO outside of South Korea to do so. Furthermore, the MNO now has 12 NFC-capable phones in the market. Orange is not marketing these devices for their NFC capability, but rather for their multimedia and software capabilities, processor speed and screen size.
Unlike the currently stunted attempt to roll out NFC in the United Kingdom, French MNOs (Orange in particular) are aggressively pushing contactless technology.
“In France, the French agree to seed the market, even if no service is available (yet), whereas the UK doesn’t want to launch communication about a handset if there is no service available,” said [head of Orange Group’s mobile NFC program Vincent] Barnaud.
These NFC SIMs will cost Orange an additional €2 (US$2.50).
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