Telenor Key in Global Industry Push for Your Digital ID

Telenor key in global industry push for your digital ID

The entire telco industry is now joining forces to create a universal identity that will secure authentication and safe access to mobile and digital services. Mobile Connect was a key topic demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress.

Introducing Mobile Connect – the new standard in digital authentication

Over the last year, a number of mobile operators and internet service providers, have joined the GSMA program called Mobile Connect. Trials are currently running in several markets where otherwise competing operators are partnering to provide the authentication mechanism.

“Telenor is one of nine lead operator groups that heads the initiative to develop and launch Mobile Connect. This will allow internet users all over the world to use their mobile devices to authenticate themselves when logging into services on the internet,” says Sven Thaulow, Head of Global Scale at Telenor Digital. Thaulow was also a key participant at panel debates on the subject of mobile identity at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2015 in Barcelona.

Sven Thaulow here discussing the future of mobile identity at MWC15 Barcelona.

Connecting the world has been Telenor's domain for more than 160 years, and we are driven by a singular vision: to empower societies. How does it work?

In the same way as Facebook, Google and other OTT providers have done for a while, Telenor and other telcos, can now offer internet users one simple login button. Where OTT providers use the login ID of their own service to log in to others, Mobile Connect uses your mobile telephone number (MSISDN) instead. “It’s actually about staying relevant to our users and maintaining the customer relationship in a situation where internet services are disrupting our traditional business models and threatening to reduce telcos to simple utility providers”, says Thaulow and adds, “Taking a strong position as an ID provider can enable us to be a much stronger player, also in the internet ecosystems. This is about much more than providing a new service, it’s a strategic battle on the way to becoming an internet company”. Mobile Connect will work for all users in the market. Mobile Connect applications range from simple, convenient login mechanisms, to advanced encryption and certificates that can be used for banking and other sensitive applications.

Telenor key in development of Mobile Connect

Telenor is currently running trials in several markets. In Malaysia, Digi is participating from the operator side whereas Mudah, the number one classified site, is the Service Provider that provides the Mobile Connect mechanism to their users. Trials are also soon to go live from Telenor Pakistan and Grameenphone in Bangladesh, the latter together with Ekhanei (classifieds). Global Service Provider OLX has also implemented Mobile Connect in Thailand. And other Business Units are following. Telenor is implementing major parts of the Mobile Connect service centrally in the Telenor Global Backend, provided by Telenor Digital. “Utilizing Global Backend allows Telenor to deploy services to new markets and for new Service Providers very rapidly, and is also part of the explanation why Telenor is in the forefront of this program”, says Arild Haugen, Program Manager for Mobile Connect in Telenor, “this, together with the enthusiastic efforts from the ID Team at Telenor Digital made it possible to get OLX in Thailand and Telenor Pakistan live on Mobile Connect in just a couple of weeks”, he proudly explains. Telenor is also contributing into the design work in GSMA, where the system architecture and product strategies are being developed together with other mobile operators.

Telenor Group is one of the world's major mobile operators. We keep our customers connected in our markets across Scandinavia and Asia. Our more than 30,000 employees are committed to responsible business conduct and being our customers' favourite partner in digital life. Connecting the world has been Telenor's domain for more than 160 years, and we are driven by a singular vision: to empower societies.