(Telecompaper) The GSMA announced the launch of an industry initiative to allow mobile customers to use their accounts with mobile operators for secure access to other digital services. The Mobile Connect project is initially supported by the operators Axiata, China Mobile, China Telecom, Etisalat, KDDI, Ooredoo, Orange, Tata Teleservices, Telefonica, Telenor, Telstra and VimpelCom, as well as digital service providers Dailymotion, Deezer, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Morpho, Oberthur and VALID. By managing their digital identity through Mobile Connect, customers are expected to gain improved privacy protection, simpler access to services and reduced risk of identity theft. They will no longer need to create and manage multiple user names and passwords as the authentication and identification solution will use their mobile phone number or mobile user name and information contained in the secure SIM card. Mobile Connect is based on the OpenID Connect protocol to ensure broad interoperability. The GSMA, Orange, Morpho and the Catalonian healthcare service are testing Mobile Connect authentication mechanisms in a live environment at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The first commercial launches of the service are expected in 2015.