Hongkong Post e-Cert

Date: 8 October 2001

Hongkong Post Launches World's First Mobile e-Cert System
A Major Milestone for Hong Kong Mobile Commerce

The Postmaster General, Mr. P C. LUK and Mr. Nagy MOUSTAFA, President and CEO of Diversinet Corp. of Toronto, Canada, jointly announced today the official launch of the Hongkong Post Mobile e-Cert. The launch thrusts Hong Kong to the forefront in mobile commerce security with the creation of the world's first public mobile Certification Authority (CA). The new Mobile e-Certs will be available for individuals and businesses to authenticate the identity of subscribers over virtually all types of mobile device, including Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and mobile handsets.

The Electronic Transactions Ordinance enacted in January 2000 stipulates that the Postmaster General is a recognised Certification Authority in Hong Kong. The Mobile e-Cert is a new initiative taken by the Postmaster General to enable secure online transactions over the wireless networks.

"The establishment of a reliable and seamless security infrastructure for both wireline and wireless digital certificates will greatly enhance the ease of use for end users and further drive the development of e-commerce, " said Mr. LUK.

The newly launched Mobile e-Cert infrastructure built on Diversinet's wireless security products enables Hongkong Post to issue client certificates across a wide range of mobile devices, including PDA, WAP, SIM and RIM handhelds. The solution also supports GSM/GPRS and future 3G networks.

"Hongkong Post is truly a pioneer in the world to develop the mobile e-Cert system for community-wide adoption. In its role as a market leader and innovator, Hongkong Post is helping businesses and the Government to promote the use of wireless technology and to foster mobile commerce in Hong Kong," said Mr. Nagy MOUSTAFA, President and CEO of Diversinet Corp.

The development of mobile e-Cert is a firm commitment of HKSAR Government under the Digital 21 IT Strategy to provide the necessary infrastructure to develop Hong Kong into a leading e-business community.

In officiating the event, Mrs. Carrie YAU, Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, the Government of the HKSAR, said, "The launch of the Hongkong Post Mobile e-Cert system marks a momentous milestone in the development of mobile commerce in Hong Kong. With the launch of this new system, Hong Kong will be the first economy in the world to issue mobile e-Certs for community-wide adoption. This will make Hong Kong a pioneer of mobile service and technology."

Both Hongkong Post and Diversinet have been collaborating with the Hong Kong M-Cert Implementation Forum (HKMIF), an organisation formed by all the mobile operators in Hong Kong for the purpose of developing and implementing a single standard for mobile certificates. The Mobile e-Cert system will cater for the requirements to be developed by HKMIF. Hongkong Post and Diversinet Corp. are committed to support HKMIF in its Mobile Certificate initiative and will work with HKMIF towards the goal to deliver a single standard certificate format that works with different devices and supports multiple applications.

Also participated in the event was Mrs. Agnes NARDI, Managing Director, Hutchison Telecommunications (HK) Ltd. "We are pleased that Hongkong Post has pioneered the new Mobile e-Cert System which will benefit the end-users and the mobile industry as a whole. As the largest mobile operator in Hong Kong with superb network quality, Hutchison Telecom has led the local mobile commerce development with a full range of innovative services. We are committed to continue working with Hongkong Post in promoting secured mobile commerce transaction in Hong Kong." said Mrs. NARDI.

Hongkong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. also supports the initiatives by Hongkong Post. "Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) is pleased to learn that Hongkong Post's latest mobile public key infrastructure technology supports the development of secure wireless securities trading applications. These applications can be further leveraged on HKEx's online securities trading infrastructure, the Order Routing System, to bring greater security and convenience to our investors" said Mr. K C KWONG, Chief Executive of HKEX.

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