Some of the world’s biggest mobile operators today announced their intention to launch commercial Near Field Communications (NFC) services by next year. In a statement from the GSMA, 16 operators – América Móvil, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT Corporation, MTS, Orange, Qtel Group, SK Telecom, SoftBank Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor and Vodafone – declared their support for the technology. GSMA Chairman (and Telecom Italia CEO) Franco Bernabe noted that NFC will not only enable mobile payments but also other services and applications such as mobile ticketing, mobile couponing, and control access to cars, homes and hotels. Bernabe also warned that standardisation of NFC technology is critical to success (with the SIM providing the secure element for authentication, security and portability) and that the GSMA “will develop the necessary certification and testing standards to ensure global interoperability of NFC services.”

Today’s announcement follows last week’s GSMA Mobile World Congress, where NFC was a dominant theme. After years of promise, the technology now looks set for mass-market commercial deployment, with handset vendors such as Nokia, Samsung, RIM and Motorola all set to ship large volumes of smartphones in 2011 that support the technology. Apple is also rumoured to be working on a NFC-enabled iPhone. Recent months have also seen operator support, in the form of a US joint venture (T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon) and carrier collaboration in Asia and Europe. According to Frost & Sullivan, the total payment value for NFC globally will reach more than EUR110 billion in 2015.