China Mobile will begin offering free NFC-based SIM cards in its service centres from mid-April, according to You Feng, general manager of China Mobile’s e-commerce operations division. The story was reported in Marbridge Daily.

Users need to pick up a NFC SIM card, as well as a smartphone supporting the technology, in order to make mobile payments.

The mobile operator will offer payment functionality though three handsets from HTC and Samsung in in April. The service will expand to cover “several dozen” handsets by end- 2013.

China Mobile’s goal is to sell more than 10 million NFC-enabled handsets by the end of this year.

The operator has previously talked about a full commercial launch of NFC in 2013. This timetable of SIM distribution would be consistent with that objective. Also, at last year’s NFC & Mobile Money Summit, China Mobile talked about selling 10 million TD-SCDMA handsets this year, which again appears consistent with the current report.

The operator has also signed a strategic agreement covering its mobile wallet with China Everbright Bank. It already has similar agreements with China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Citic and the Bank of China.

In a potential boost to NFC services, travellers on Beijing’s public transit system will be able to pay for tickets by swiping their NFC handsets from May 2013.