Vodafone plans to launch NFC-based mobile payments in the UK later this month, so users can benefit from the launch of contactless payments on London’s public transport, according to NFC World.

Subscribers will be able to tap and pay with NFC-enabled handsets on the capital’s trains when Transport for London (TfL) debuts contactless payments for cards and phones on 16 September.

Regular usage by travellers of their NFC handsets in this way could act as a catalyst for such services to take off. Rival EE has already made sure that users of its Cash on Tap app can take advantage of the TfL initiative.

Mobile World Live contacted O2 about whether it has any plans for a similar launch but has yet to receive a response.

Separately, EE shareholder Orange and partner Barclaycard have told users of Quick Tap that the NFC payment service will close on 30 October.   Last year’s launch by EE of Cash on Tap has overshadowed Quick Tap which will now be withdrawn

The UK is the latest country where Vodafone has launched its SmartPass with NFC service. Previously, it launched the NFC-based payments service, which was developed with Visa, in Spain. That was in November 2013 and was followed by launches in Germany, Netherlands and Italy earlier this year. The UK was actually originally scheduled for a Spring launch, so is arriving late on the market.