NFC Times Exclusive Insight – France-based Gemalto estimates it is losing around €30 million (US$33.8 million) in revenue per quarter from the closing of the Softcard mobile-payments service in the U.S. last March–a setback that will end up costing the vendor nearly €100 million in lost sales this year and around €50 million in profit.

The losses come from both Gemalto’s trusted service manager contracts with the now-defunct Softcard telco joint venture and lower sales of high-end NFC SIM cards for Softcard’s three former owners, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA. It was by far Gemalto’s largest project for its mobile financial services business. 

Gemalto CEO Olivier Piou, speaking to financial analysts following release of Gemalto’s first half earnings report today, made the rough estimate of the losses in response to questions from financial analysts, adding that Softcard shut down faster than Gemalto had expected after Google acquired the joint venture’s assets earlier this year.