OREANDA-NEWS. NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan’s leading mobile operator and provider of integrated services centered on mobility, China Mobile Communications Corporation, leading mobile operator in China and KT Corporation, South Korea’s leading telecom operator, have agreed on handset and service requirements needed to realize NFC international roaming services, or NFC service roaming, between the three countries and for the rest of Asia. The companies will publish two white papers including the information on the requirements, on February 25th at the GSMA Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain.

The “Asia NFC Zone - NFC Service Roaming” white paper presents a definition of NFC service roaming and key conditions for its commercial deployment, while the “Asia NFC Zone - NFC Handset Requirements” white paper describes technical requirements to realize NFC service roaming. These white papers, which are based on international NFC standards worked on by organizations such as GSMA and NFC Forum, provides NFC roaming deployment requirements to mobile network operators, service providers and merchants who are planning to participate in the deployment of NFC service roaming in Asia, as well as NFC related handset requirements to handset vendors developing future compatible handsets.

The companies have been exploring opportunities for NFC service roaming since January 2011, and from April 2012, efforts have focused on developing common requirements. The white papers published will further enhance the deployment of NFC service roaming, in areas such as mobile payments, promotional coupons and mass-transit ticketing.

DOCOMO, China Mobile and KT plan to share the white papers that they have agreed on with global associations and standardization bodies, aiming to promote the realization of a commercial environment for globally compatible NFC services.