Middle East smart card market set to grow

Middle East smart card market set to grow
The increasing requirement for easy access, stringent security and improved payment methods are the main drivers for the increased adoption of smart cards in the Middle East and North Africa market. The primary applications are likely to be health cards, driver's license, and the conditional access system television; however the biggest demand will be generated from the telecommunications segment due to a change from fixed line telephony to mobile telephony. This market is expected to account for 64.5% of smart card sales. The last five years have shown that the Middle East and North African region has increased homeland security by employing the use of smart card-based security to reduce the amount of forged documents and fraud in existing applications. The key areas of concern are illegal immigration and the necessity of high-level precautions in the government administration. Smart card suppliers are concentrating on providing a secure and customized solution for both the government and private divisions.

Governments from various countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are currently examining and constructing a comprehensive database of citizens, immigrants and expats for national identity card ventures. Lone government agencies are also following a range of government schemes to increase the chances of this project being successful. Utilising a complete database, protecting the information from government-related projects, and implanting various government projects involve a straight forward and time consuming method. Supply companies with technological resources are expected to flourish due to the increasing opportunities produced by these large government initiatives.