Reuters reports today that mobile operators and banks in the European Union are teaming up to enable customers to pay grocery, restaurant and other bills using their mobile phone. The GSM Association (GSMA), which represents the world’s mobile industry, is partnering with the European Payments Council, a body that represents 8,000 banks in Europe. The cooperation is intended to help banks deliver better mobile payments services to their customers, supported by mobile operators’ infrastructure. “Bringing more competition to the payment services market has been my aim and agreements such as this show the possibilities that new technologies and innovative approaches offer in this regard,” EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy said in a statement.

Reuters notes that seven mobile operators – AT&T, FarEasTone, KTF, Orange, SFR, Softbank and Turkcell – are already running trials for ‘contactless’ mobile payments, based on the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, and a further seven plan tests shortly. The report adds that the aim is to adopt a global approach to standards used in the EU that will use so-called near field communications, a contactless technology that allows data to be transmitted from the phone’s SIM card wirelessly over very short distances.