Deutsche Telekom collaborating on digital ID wallets with 2 new customers

German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom has brought on two new customers for its digital identity wallet as it pushes its strategy in digital IDs.

The company’s digital transformation-focused subsidiary T-Systems will supply the ID wallet for Gaia-X Federation Services, a major European initiative for trusted data sharing. The wallet was commissioned by the German trade group eco – Association of the Internet Industry and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

The service will be available to the Gaia-X at the beginning of next year. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) technology plays a special role in the wallet with users in control of their digital ID credentials, the company says in a release.

“The EU wants its citizens to be able to decide for themselves with whom they share data. Digital, secure identities are the key to this,” says T-Systems CEO Adel Al-Saleh.

T-Systems is also collaborating with its development partner, German digital identity company Verimi to develop a proof-of-concept ID wallet for tax consultants on behalf of software company Datev which provides services for auditors, lawyers and taxation experts.

Telekom will provide Datev with a product that can perform one-to-one identification and authentication, says Lars Meyer-Pries, head of Innovation Management at Datev. “To this end, we are working with T-Systems to design a model for forward-looking authentication, in which we are already anticipating the eID planned by the EU and the needs of the tax consulting profession with a so-called ID wallet,” he says.

The company has not disclosed the volume and duration of the orders.

Deutsche Telekom is developing its ID systems as open-source software and in line with the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet. It is part of the EU’s €46 million (roughly US$49 million) pilot programs field-testing the European Union’s digital ID scheme.

Alongside German telecom companies Telefónica, and Vodafone and biometric firm Idemia, the company is part of the Potential consortium tasked with testing EU digital identity wallets in 19 countries. One of the project’s focus areas is curbing digital identity fraud and improving security in SIM card activations. It is one of four consortiums that the Commission has chosen to conduct the large-scale pilots which were officially launched in July.

Deutsche Telekom has also been busy with other digital ID projects. In October, German regulators approved a digital identity service for healthcare developed by T-Systems and Verimi that will be used by 8.7 million people insured by German health insurance provider Barmer.

Last year, T-Systems also scored a deal to verify the credentials of participating company identities within the Catena-X data ecosystem which gathers car manufacturers and suppliers. The product called Gaia-X Digital Clearing House was launched in March.

Article Topics

data sharing  |  Deutsche Telekom  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  Potential Consortium