An enabler for all manner of next generation services, the concept of digital identity touched almost every aspect of this year’s Mobile World Congress. Various sessions at the Congress explored the degree to which the mobile industry’s interoperable digital identity solution, Mobile Connect, can address the growing demand for a secure and convenient solution, as well as its suitability for use with emerging technologies, such as biometrics and Blockchain.
Underlining Mobile Connect’s maturity, the solution was featured in a variety of live demonstrations at the Congress. These included a biometric airline check-in demonstration, a connected vending machine which used the solution to authorise purchases and the British Government’s demonstration of how citizens can use its Digidentity solution (which employs Mobile Connect technology) to verify their identity to check their pension account details.
Furthermore, three of the most renowned brands in the music industry, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music Group (and their playlist brand, Topsify), united through Kuack Media Group to provide content for a demo of a new mobile-based music streaming app, Mobile Connect Music. Specifically designed to leverage the security and reliability of mobile networks, the app enabled users to access 10 million tracks after logging in via Mobile Connect.
The Congress also hosted several industry seminars on digital identity featuring leading subject matter experts from the mobile industry and adjacent sectors. Addressing the incoming identity regulation, emerging technologies and combating fraud, industry leaders sought to agree a common approach to digital identity. As the growth of the digital economy drastically reduces the proportion of transactions in which buyer and seller physically meet, the meaning of trust is being altered.
As the GSMA’s Head of Applications and Services David Pollington explained, Mobile Connect’s global architecture is designed to empower and return control to its users. Indeed – as Pollington concluded – in the future, each individual may decide precisely how they are authenticated, and how their data is shared. Now available to over three billion people in 29 countries and supported by 51 of the world’s leading operators, Mobile Connect can provide high-grade security and an enhanced customer experience across a multitude of verticals and use cases.
If you want to know more about Mobile Connect, please join the next Mobile Connect Summit.