Slovenia's Banka Koper, MasterCard and a group of technology players have teamed up to run a contactless mobile payments pilot.
Participants in the trial, which runs through June, will use handsets manufactured by French firm Sagam Wireless for local operator Mobitel to make low value purchases at stores that accept MasterCard and Maestro PayPass contactless payments.
Customers will also be able to use interactive mobile services based on smart posters, including contextual information, advertisements and coupons.
Both the MasterCard M/Chip application and Mobitel's single wire protocol NFC SIM card have been developed by Sagem Orga. The handset incorporates Inside Contactless' MicroRead NFC technology, which handles communication with terminals, tags and other handsets, and also includes Inside's Wave-Me applet for interaction with smart posters.
Application and SIM card life cycle management is performed over-the-air by Cassis, which also provides the certified payment user-interface and smart poster management.
Gojmir Nabergoj, senior advisor, Banka Koper, says: "We aim to leverage smart card and mobile technologies to enable simpler and more secure payments, and to offer value added products which really makes a difference to their customers."
Cyril Caillaud, NFC product line manager, Sagem Wireless, adds: "All the analyst and market evidence indicates that the adoption of emerging NFC applications in the consumer handset market is set to grow rapidly in 2010. The trial of these new connected services by Banka Koper and Mobitel will really demonstrate the benefits of fast, secure contactless payment."