Huawei Pay will be an accepted payment method for public transport services in four of China’s largest cities following a deal between the Chinese vendor and NXP Semiconductors.

The Pay app, which utilises NFC and an embedded secure element, will initially be available in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing for consumers with Honor 8 and Honor V8 smartphones.

NXP announced the companies extended an existing agreement to enable users of those devices to preload travel fares and pay for journeys by tapping the device on a reader when boarding public transport. NXP provides the secure element for the service.

Huawei Pay was announced in March and went live in China during September, backed by a number of banks in the country. According to Huawei it is the first security chip-based mobile payment solution to be launched in the country.

Rafael Sotomayor, SVP and GM and of NXP’s mobile business said: “Delivering mobile transit services to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Beijing on top of Shanghai is a significant milestone. It builds on the two companies’ history of bringing innovation to our customers and extends NXP’s position as a leading provider of mobile transit solutions.”

In the statement, Huawei added it anticipated demand for smart payment technology in China’s urban transit networks to rapidly increase as the country continues to “urbanise” in the coming years.