Official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sponsors Visa and Samsung are teaming on a special Games mobile handset that can be used to make contactless payments.
Members of the public will be able to make low value payments by selecting a Visa mobile contactless application and then waving their handset against equipped terminals.
The firms say they will give out the handsets to sponsored athletes while members of the public can buy them from network operators and get a Visa-enabled SIM card for making payments.
Peter Ayliffe, CEO, Visa Europe, says: "We are not only breaking new ground for Olympic partnerships, we are committed to enabling consumers to connect with mobile and contactless payments technology for 2012 and beyond. We look forward to working with financial institutions and mobile operators alongside Samsung to make this initiative a success."
Meanwhile, Samsung is also working with Telefónica on a pilot that will see staff at the wireless operator's Madrid headquarters test NFC-enabled mobile phones.
The trial will initially involve 1000 employees, rising to 12,500, who will be able to make contactless payments at retail outlets on the local business campus. They can also use their handsets to access work buildings and load their 'meal cheques' into the phone to pay for their food and drink at staff catering facilities.
Samsung and payments specialists Giesecke & Devrient and Oberthur are all providing technology for the project while Visa and banks Bankinter, BBVA, La Caixa are also involved.
Telefónica has developed a 'Movistar Wallet' for the project which allows users to choose which bank card they use for purchases, gain access to company facilities and download information by bringing the mobile up to items such as posters or brochures.
The mobile terminal saves a secure digital version in the SIM of any cards users may have, and they can use NFC technology to pay directly at the POS terminals and adapted readers at sales outlets.
The pilot comes after another trial carried out by Telefónica, La Caixa and Visa in Sitges in the province of Barcelona. The six month experiment involving 1500 people and 500 businesses saw customers carry out 30% more e-transactions, with a 23% increase in average purchase per user.