The German telco was one of several major players to commit to NFC technology at the GSMA Mobile World Congress this year, promising commercial services by 2012.

Following a tender process it has now selected G&D for the provision of the vendor's SIM card operating system SkySIM CX.

The technology will be rolled out in several countries, the first time that contactless is being introduced across markets and implemented using a universal SIM card, says G&D.

Wireless operators around the world are pushing hard to gain a slice of the fast growing mobile payments market, with groups in France, US, UK and Denmark all recently setting up NFC ventures.