Gemalto (News - Alert) has been selected by Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles (STIB) for its MOBIB contactless transport card program.

STIB manages transport in Brussels. With Gemalto’s Celego card, more than 400,000 inhabitants in Brussels will benefit from contactless technology while traveling on the subway, buses and trams. The deployment of the same was started in April 2009. Gemalto will be extending MOBIB cards to the whole of Belgium. At present, around 30 cities use Gemalto’s contactless transport cards around the world.

 

The MOBIB is personalized with the holder’s picture and is valid during five years. The card allows users to save time when accessing public transport and topping up balances. Travelers can avoid the queues at sales outlets and will be able to refill their cards at ticket machines or directly from the readers. Different transport formulas like season tickets, 10-journey tickets or discount tickets are also available. In addition, the multi-purpose MOBIB card also gives access to public car parks.

According to Etienne Graindor, general secretary of the ticketing department at STIB, they selected Gemalto because of its expertise in large-scale deployments of contactless transport cards. STIB was looking to provide its customers with a reliable and sustainable product that could be used on a daily basis during five years. The card from Gemalto met these requirements perfectly.

Gemalto has already issued more than 120 million contactless travel cards till date. According to Philippe Cambriel, executive vice-president secure transactions business unit at Gemalto, the deal with STIB is part of their strategy to develop Gemalto’s transport activities. Transport operators play an important role in the expansion of contactless systems throughout the world and Gemalto is pleased to supply all the services and technologies required for this development.

Gemalto provides governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises with secure personal devices like subscriber identification modules (SIM) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports and USB tokens for online identity protection. Gemalto’s activities range from the development of software applications through the design and production of secure personal devices to the deployment of managed services for its customers.