EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Orange’s Anne Bouverot has hailed 2011 as a key year for NFC but warned that the global availability of compatible handsets remains an obstacle to commercial success. In an interview with Mobile World Live, Bouverot – the operator’s executive vice president for mobile services – cited the launch of live NFC services from Orange in Southern France, the UK and Poland as evidence that the NFC market is finally beginning to take off, as well as a commitment from French operators to deploy one million NFC handsets this year. “As we’ve seen in Nice, we have the services working, we have some handsets and SIM cards, so the challenges are more about having more handsets. We’ve seen that they’re coming. And it’s about having the whole ecosystem working together in partnership.”

Bouverot’s comments follow Orange’s announcement last December that it will rollout NFC-based contactless mobile payment technology across its European footprint. Its home market of France appears to be its initial focus, with the operator planning to equip at least 500,000 of its French customers with compatible handsets by the end of this year. Last month the operator also teamed with credit card provider Barclaycard to launch what they claim is the UK’s first nationwide contactless mobile payment service, dubbed Quick Tap. View the full video here