Giesecke & Devrient's SkySIM CX, an NFC SIM card that allows several NFC applications to be executed at the same time, has received EMVCo, American Express, MasterCard and Visa approval, confirming it meets their requirements for use in secure payments systems.

Cards in the SkySIM CX family come with up to 1.3 megabytes of memory and are available in 2FF, micro-SIM, and nano-SIM form factors. As well as NFC payments, the Java Card 3.0.1 Classic-based SIM cards also support Mifare, Cipurse and Calypso transit ticketing applications and loyalty programs.

"The new product family gives network operators an opportunity to create new business models," the company says. "As well as offering their own applications, they will now be able to set up highly secure areas on the SIM card — referred to as 'containers' — for third-party applications.

"Service providers can run their own applications in these containers, in return for a fee payable to the network operator. This will help to bring the widespread introduction of NFC services another step closer."