Abstract
Australian and New Zealand Smart Card Enterprises Experience Slower Growth
While the smart card market in Europe and certain Asian countries is witnessing steady growth,
developments in the Australian and New Zealand markets have been less prominent. To strengthen the
demand, the Australian and New Zealand market participants must overcome hurdles such as higher
costs (compared to other automatic identification and data capture technologies), absence of proper
standards, and the issue of insufficient interoperability across systems and boundaries.
This Frost & Sullivan research service provides an overview of and an outlook for the smart
cards markets in Australia and New Zealand, detailing unit shipment forecasts by region and segments
as well as providing market share analyses. Application wise the major verticals are
telecommunications, government and healthcare, transit and financial. This information is valuable
for both large and small market participants seeking to position themselves for maximum return on
investment.
Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) Conformity to Drive the Smart Card Markets
"The move toward EMV compliance is set to strengthen the smart cards markets -- particularly
the financial segment -- in the Australian and New Zealand regions by 2006, with the final deadline
fixed at 2008," notes the analyst of this research. "In New Zealand, banks and retailers
associations are advising the countrys retailers to speed-up their adoption of point-of-sale (POS)
terminals that support EMV."
The usage of smart cards in Australia and New Zealand is likely to rise once the banks sign the
EMV mandate. With New Zealand making a total move toward EMV in the next 2 to 3 years, Australia is
also likely to accept it completely. The technology also needs government approval for functioning
as a viable business-to-business (B2B) solution, serve as credit cards and identification tools, and
for securing IT networks and information.
Telecommunications Contribute Chiefly to New Zealand Markets
"In New Zealand, telecommunications is the main end user vertical, with a 90.0 percent share
of the unit shipments and transport/security and access control comprising the remaining 10.0
percent," highlights the analyst. "In Australia telecommunications is benefiting greatly
from changes in the cellular phone network infrastructure, with a sizeable contribution coming from
the global system for mobile (GSM) cellular phone market."
Overall, the market condition is likely to improve with the unit shipment of smart cards growing
at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3 percent from 2004 to 2009. During the same period
the usage in the telecommunications segment is set to go up at a CAGR of 9.4 percent. The demand
from government and healthcare segment for government related projects and hospitals respectively
and transit segment, especially from electronic toll collection (ETC) and transport ticketing
systems-- and university students is further set to boost the market demand. The financial
application is expected to be the key segment by 2006 with the move towards EMV compliance.
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