Five of Europe’s largest operators are working together to create a universal acceptance logo for NFC technology, in a bid to drive uptake of the contactless payments standard across the region. NFC World reports that Telefonica/O2, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and France Telecom/Orange are to create a new logo for NFC, to indicate to consumers where the technology may be used. The operators’ logo will be separate to the universal contactless symbol (pictured top); and the NFC Forum’s ‘N-Mark’ logo (pictured bottom), which has also been created to denote NFC-enabled devices and places where the technology can be used. However, according to the report, the operators do not see the NFC Forum’s logo as a strong enough symbol for general usage.

O2’s Nick Wilkin told NFC World: “This is something we all think is necessary. It’s very much in the discussion stage at the moment, but we all agree it’s something we should have. Whether we use the three waves you see on contactless credit cards today, or make a new design, the point is to make sure it’s as easy as possible for customers to see whether they can use their phone at a checkout.” It is not known when the new logo will see the light of day.