Australia - E-commerce - Smart Cards - Overview and Analysis

Synopsis

Australia, unlike Europe, has long been lagging behind in smart card developments. By the late 1990s it was not the Australian banks, nor the credit card companies, but Telstra who was taking the lead in this market. Mastercard and Visa, supported by IT companies such as IBM and Microsoft, have been trying to speed up the e-wallet market, however progress has been very slow. The use of smart cards in Australia remains limited to various trials, with the most significant developments being in electronic ticketing. Queensland supported smart cards for driver’s licences in June 2003.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview
  • 2.1 Still little progress in 2003
  • 2.2 The card
  • 2.3 Uses
  • 2.4 Platforms
    • 2.4.1 MULTOS
    • 2.4.2 Java Card
    • 2.4.3 The Catuity System
  • 2.5 ECard
• 3. Analysis
  • 3.1 Has the window of opportunity been missed?
  • 3.2 Key issues
• 4. Financial services
  • 4.1 Credit cards
  • 4.2 The Visa–Mastercard battle
  • 4.3 Visa smartcards
  • 4.4 Mastercard smartcards
• 5. Transport
  • 5.1 NSW
    • 5.1.1 Phase 1 - QuickLink
    • 5.1.2 Phase 2
  • 5.2 Queensland
• 6. Public services
  • 6.1 Queensland
  • 6.2 Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
• 7. Reated reports

• Table 1 – Number and value of credit card transactions per month – 1998-2002
• Table 2 – Number of debit and credit cards/accounts – 1998-2002

• Exhibit 1 – ECard smart card projects