eIDAS Pilot Recommends Mobile Connect for Cross-Border Digital Services

Having removed many of the barriers to European cross-border trade by way of the Single Market, the European Commission’s vision of a Digital Single Market aims to create secure, frictionless commerce to the many new forms of transaction that have emerged in recent years.

The basis for this principle rests in part on the EU’s eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) regulation, designed to provide minimum standards for identity technical and legal interoperability.

Through the introduction of such measures, citizens across Europe have the potential to easily access services in any Member State. As well as stimulating commerce and broadening consumer choice, the regulation is intended to enable greater access to public sector services, regardless of their location in Europe.

Crucial to this new market will be a reliable identity solution designed in accordance with principles of eIDAS. With 84% mobile penetration in Europe, the mobile industry has engaged in two eIDAS pilots with Mobile Connect,  the second

The European Commission and more than 10 other organisations supported the pilot, ranging from eIDAS node experts, mobile operators and service providers. The pilot’s primary goal  was to determine how Mobile Connect, in combination with eIDAS, can be used to verify individuals’ identities and their entitlements for access to cross-border health services.

The trial’s jointly issued report provides a number of insights into operating within the eIDAS framework and recommendations as to how Mobile Connectthe mobile industry’s network-based identity service, can serve the growth of new services. According to GSMA Intelligence, eIDAS will create an addressable market for authentication, authorisation and attribute services of more than $2.47 billion in 2022.

The pilot highlighted how leveraging Mobile Connect and the eIDAS Regulation, together with European Member States’ investment plans for identity initiatives, could drive large-scale take-up of secure and reliable digital identity management solutions beyond username/password and smartcard-based approaches.

The completion of the pilot is thus an important step towards developing a strategic action plan to employ mobile operators’ assets to accelerate the development of a secure and trustworthy digital identity ecosystem, which in turn could allow the delivery of healthcare –and many other public sector- services enabled by the Internet of Things.

View the report ‘Mobile Connect for Cross-Border Digital Services: Lessons Learned from the eIDAS Pilot’

 

The joint pilot report received the endorsement from influential businesses and policymakers representatives, below and extract from the foreword to the report:

“Building trust in the online world is crucial to accomplish the Digital Single Market. Coupling mobile authentication credentials, such as Mobile Connect, with the identity security provided by eIDs under the eIDAS Regulation, is the way towards this goal”

– Andrus Ansip, Vice President, European Commission

 

“By giving citizens control of the personal data and attributes they want to disclose, this freedom also benefits online service providers who can now be sure about the identity credentials of their counterparts in digital interactions. This interoperability pilot between Mobile Connect and eIDAS shows how more and more digital interactions can take place through mobile devices”

– Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, European Commission

 

“I am proud that thanks to Orange, Mobile Connect is now helping France digital transformation, making government services available to every citizen connected on France Connect, the French Identities Providers Federation System.  This live service will help spread eIDAS, with the aim to create a Digital Single Market that simplifies access to public administration, improves user convenience and makes trust and authentication services’ market more transparent, while preserving citizens’ privacy.”

– Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive and Chairman, Orange

 

“Telenor sees benefits in applying these principles on a supranational scale, whereby European operators offer their customers Mobile Connect to gain access to key services, irrespective of their country of origin.

-Bjørn Ivar Moen, Chief Marketing Officer, Telenor Norway

 

The GSMA will continue to work with industry and government to deliver the benefits of digital identity solutions to citizens across Europe.

– John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Offcer, GSMA