China Mobile has announced that its NFC payments service, which has been developed in partnership with bank card association China UnionPay, has gone live in 14 cities, reports NFC World.

The service is available in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou with eight banks having signed up to use the platform developed by the companies.

China Mobile subscribers must acquire an NFC SIM card and download the operator’s new mobile wallet Android app to use the service. Once they have linked their bank account to the wallet they can make mobile payments at participating merchants that operate UnionPay QuickPass contactless POS terminals.

Among the banks to have joined the initiative are Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and China CITIC Bank. More banks are expected to join the service in due course.

The world’s largest operator and its partner are working to expand the functionality of the platform to include transit tickets, access cards, student cards and mobile tickets.

“I believe China Mobile and China UnionPay’s cooperation will become the leading mobile payment platform in the industry and an important force,” said Xi Guohua, China Mobile’s chairman.

China UnionPay plans to integrate its trusted service management platform with other operators in the future.