Orange Poland has launched NFC Pass, a contactless payments service for smartphones, with mBank unveiled as its first banking partner. The service is equipped with MasterCard PayPass technology.

Rather than relying on pre-paid cards, which have to be topped up before mobile payments can be made, NFC Pass enables payments to be deducted from current accounts.

NFC Pass is only available on Android-powered smartphones, but Orange Poland, in a press release, said there were plans to launch the service on Windows Phone by the end of the year.

Poland appears to be embracing contactless payments. More than half of all payment terminals allow payment by this method, according to Dariusz Boduch, a marketing director at Orange Poland.

Transactions using MasterCard PayPass technology can be made via 145,000 payment terminals in Poland.

Orange and local player mBank already have a partnership, going as far as establishing a new branch – in a joint venture – as part of mBank’s existing structure. In March the two companies said they would target both consumers and SMEs with financial services.