Ez-Link and Nets E-Payment

12/6/2014

12/6/2014

Ahmed Tarbishi

BUS_ADM 744

Ahmed Tarbishi

BUS_ADM 744

EZ-LINK AND NETS E-PAYMENTS CASE

Assignment 3

EZ-LINK AND NETS E-PAYMENTS CASE

Assignment 3

Answers to Guiding Questions:

Question 1

Before 2009, the e-payment landscape in Singapore was led by two major card issuers, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore (NETS). LTA monopolized the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), bus and taxi market through its ez-link contactless card. On the other hand, NETS held exclusive rights to the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, and dominated retail payments as well as private car park payment systems through its contact CashCard. The lack of interoperability between the two systems hindered the overall spread of contactless card payments in Singapore. Integrating the two systems faced significant barriers, including the differing commercial interests of the parties involved. Also, cost was an issue since there was an existing infrastructure in place and each player had established its network of cards and card readers. As a result, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) launched an initiative to develop a standard that would provide an interoperable platform in order to boost local micropayments and open up e-payment services for consumers. The goal of this open standard is to build a high security and high performance platform that would enable multiple payment applications offered by different issuers to be on a single smart card, which consumers could use for all kinds of micropayments. In addition, the government of Singapore was interested in having a single infrastructure to be used by all competing players, in a very small market, to have a cashless society, which will be achieved by implementing this innovative standard.

Question 2

The first concept illustrated by this case is reducing cost as the goal of infrastructure management. Infrastructure management focuses on efficiency and...