Payments vendor Carta Worldwide has launched a new service that offers mobile operators and banks the means to trial NFC-based mobile payments without having to source the key equipment for themselves.

The vendor claims its ready-to-use service is a cheaper option than companies doing it on their own.

“The value is that Carta can deliver very quickly – from one to 1,000 – one-off NFC-enabled phones at a very low cost compared to a full commercial development project, which can cost many millions of dollars before demonstrations even see the light of day,” said Brian Semkiw, the company’s CEO.

Described by Carta as “NFC-in-a-box”, the package contains an NFC-enabled smartphone(s); NFC profile provisioned to the Secure Element (SIM card); wallet/UI app; live MasterCard virtual card provisioned for live transactions; and product management and support suite.