Press release: Norwegian-owned companies join forces to contribute to digitalize Philippine society.

PROTECTORIA GENIAL IDENTITY, INC, the fully owned subsidiary of Protectoria Venture, a Norwegian technology company offering decentralised digital identity services, has entered into a partnership and operating agreement with SMS GLOBAL to assist in the operation of these services for local government units in the Philippines. SMS GLOBAL, with Norwegian owner, has currently extensive operation of cloud-based communication and IT services to the Maritime industry. The cooperation between two Norwegian companies allows them to offer and operate the best available European decentralised digital identity technology to the Philippines.

Protectoria Genial Identity Inc. has agreed with Quezon City LGU, to provide a decentralised digital identity service for senior citizens through a mobile wallet that is efficient, portable, user-friendly and secure. The service is based on the best available decentralised technology (self-sovereign identity) aligned with the European Union’s vision for their own citizens, and could easily be expanded to a general citizen ID.

The delivered  Senior Citizen ID service ensures that each senior citizen can claim benefits provided by the laws, including discounts in purchasing services and items through a mobile wallet. The claim and the transaction that is registered in second will replace all manual processes today.

SMS Global will through this agreement provide to PGI necessary operating services like managing cloud operations, maintain and develop application services, provide frontline customer support allowing PGI to be operational very quickly and to expand the service to other LGUs.  SMS Global offers end-to-end maritime and enterprise communication solutions for leisure, fishing, merchant and passenger vessels, oil rigs and basecamps/remote lodges and is currently operating advanced cloud-based communications service with customer care services and application developments.

PGI, is through its parent company, Protectoria Venture AS’ high-end security software solution and decentralised digital identity services, is one of the few providers in the Philippine market with the financial and technical capability to deliver secure transaction solutions that complies with all current and relevant European Union (EU) Security Standards, which are necessary to develop reliable, strong, and secure digital transaction platform and protect users from fraud and manipulation of information and transactions;

Currently, Quezon City is home to more than 300,000 elderly and senior citizens. Every LGU has an obligation to provide benefits to senior citizens as provided by Philippine law (ACT 9994).  The LGU are handling these discounts today by providing plastic cards with significant costs and fraud.

The service provided by PGI will ensure that senior citizens benefit 24/7 from a digital service allowing an identification, authentication and signing in seconds, vs. the estimated 3-5 min. currently in manual and semi manual handling. The secure digital infrastructure behind ensures true identification, mitigated fraud and legal signing of the transaction in the same process. There are significant advantages of this end-to-end digital service for the citizens, the merchants and the LGU.

Trond Lemberg, CEO of Protectoria Venture says in a comment: “I´m very excited by this fruitful partnership with SMS Global. It allows us to secure the benefit of SMS GLOBAL’s skills and experience in operating cloud-based services and customer centres, and to be operative with large scale operations in a very short period of time as SMS Global has similar operations today. In addition, we have a common understanding of the potential of decentralised digital identity services in the Philippines, as our secure, efficient and user-friendly digital identity services can potentially supplement the national ID register and potentially provide a user-friendly, secure interoperable mobile use of digital identities used in the Philippines. Through this agreement, we create the basis of a strategic partnership that will lead us to new business opportunities. We also appreciate that SMS GLOBAL is managed with a Norwegian approach reducing the risks of cooperation”.

Jan André Heggem, the CEO of SMS Global, states that: “The business model with cloud-based digital identity services of Protectoria Venture suits us well, and we are happy to be able to join forces with Protectoria Venture to offer such services to the LGUs in the Philippines. This partnership will allow us to grow the scope of our information technology services into new markets. Our firms were able to explore the common interests through the Philippine Norwegian Business Council (PNBC) and I see this agreement as a testimony of the importance of PNBC.”

SMS GLOBAL provides technology and communication services with end-to-end solutions covering both communications and business operations in the maritime and enterprise satellite communications markets. In providing these services, SMS Global is operating cloud operations and teams of IT engineers with a broad skill set ensuring application developments.

Protectoria Genial Identity Inc. (PGI) is a duly registered corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Philippines with an initial authorised capital of PhP300M or about USD6M. As an Information and Software Technology company, PGI aims to provide cloud-based decentralised digital identity infrastructure services allowing digitalization of services to various sectors of society potentially replacing manual identity cards in the society..

About Protectoria Venture AS,

Protectoria Venture AS is a Norwegian company with offices in Oslo and Berlin which develops and operates secure cloud based services for issuing and verifying decentralised digital identities, the My IDentities Services. Together with its local partners Protectoria Venture creates sustainable business models empowering local governmental services, cooperatives, small businesses and their citizen-customers to become sovereigns in the age of digitalization.Digital identities are the backbone of digital transactions. Significant market growth is expected for decentralised digital infrastructure services based on Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and blockchain technologies. Protectoria Venture aims to benefit from a first mover advantage to take a leading position in the fast growing target markets internationally, all from emerging markets in ASEAN to the realisation of the Pan-European digital ID based on decentralised digital identity infrastructures.

More information: 

Trond Lemberg, President: trond.lemberg@protectoria.com

Mobile phone: + 47 414 87 310

Erik Storelv, Board Member: erik.storelv@protectoria.com

Mobile phone: +47 46 52 22 00

Jan André Heggem, CEO: andreheggem@smsglobal.net

Mobile phone: +63 917 808 3528