WATERLOO, ON – BlackBerry has signed a new three-year agreement with EnStream, a mobile payments joint venture between Bell, Rogers and Telus, to provide a secure platform that supports transaction services between banks and consumers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the agreement, EnStream will use infrastructure to enable financial institutions, like Royal Bank, TD Bank, CIBC and Desjardins, and mobile operators to securely provision sensitive payment card credentials into any smartphone capable of near field communication.
BlackBerry said that given its requirements for security, the mobile payments space continues to be an area of focus. The company previously launched BBM Money in Indonesia, which allows BlackBerry Messenger customers to conduct banking transactions via BBM.
“BlackBerry has proven through our decades of experience in enterprise mobility that we have the ideal infrastructure and security capabilities to protect users’ data when new capabilities such as mobile payments emerge,” said John Sims, president of Global Enterprise Services, in the announcement. “Together with EnStream and partners like them around the world, BlackBerry can better reach customers and provide a complete solution for banks with opportunities in the mobile payments space.”
“EnStream, with BlackBerry, is already serving a number of banks and mobile operators, and is becoming a hub for payment credential delivery to smartphones in Canada,” added EnStream COO Almis Ledas. “We expect most major Canadian banks and mobile operators to connect through this platform to meet consumer demand for efficient and safe digital transactions.”
