The GSMA’s Mobile Connect mobile-based authentication solution is now available to some two billion customers, the industry association said today.

Since its introduction at Mobile World Congress in 2014, 34 network operators in 21 countries have launched, “with plans for additional launches and trials to follow in 2016 and beyond”.

Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA, said: “As Mobile Connect is rolled out globally, mobile operators are fulfilling an important role in the digital identity space, giving users control over their own data and enabling consumers, businesses and governments alike to interact and access online services in a convenient, private and trusted environment”.

Mobile Connect enables customers to create and manage a digital universal identity via a single log-in. It securely authenticates users, enabling them to digitally confirm their identity and their credentials and grant safe one-line access to mobile and digital services such as e-commerce, banking, health and digital entertainment, and e-government, via mobile phones.

It uses the mobile phone number, along with a PIN for more secure use cases, to verify and grant access to services identified by the Mobile Connect logo.

Further rollouts are planned by operators worldwide this year, and the services supported are also being broadened.

Mobile Connect has been trialled in two EU Member States, Finland and Spain, to establish proof-of-concept for cross-border authentication of eGovernment services and online interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities.

And Mobile Connect is also evolving to deliver secure authorisation of digital transactions and to add context and trust attributes about users and transactions.

“Over the past two years, the industry has come together to simplify consumers’ lives by offering a single, trusted, mobile phone-based authentication solution that respects online privacy and helps to mitigate the vulnerability of online passwords,” Granryd said.