Italy spends $15m on ID cards

Italy is buying $15m worth of optical memory cards as it rolls out a national biometric identity programme to its citizens.

California-based LaserCard claims to have received purchase orders from the Italian government of $7m for biometric citizen cards and $8m for foreigner ID cards.

Each card has a one-megabyte optical memory stripe that will be used to store an owner's facial image, digitised signature and fingerprint.

The Italian government is currently planning to issue every adult in the country with a biometric ID card within six years.

In May this year, the Italian government said that paper-based identity cards will no longer be issued after 1 January 2006. LaserCard said the new ID cards will be delivered to Italy this December. The company has forecast profits of $40m per year from the venture, as cards require updating every five years.

According to the Italian Interior Ministry, the citizen ID is already recognised as a travel card for border entry by 32 countries across Europe and north Africa.

The foreign worker card programme was mandated by the Italian parliament in 2004. Most of these cards will need to be replaced every two years if a worker wishes to continue living in Italy.

The foreigner ID cards are expected to be delivered in April 2006, after which the company said it will make $5m per year.