Near Field Communications (NFC) trials being panned out by EFTPOS comprising of banks, telcos and card providers

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eftpos Payments Australia Limited's managing director Bruce Mansfield has said that the last thing the finance industry needs is another fruitless trial of near field communications (NFC) gear, and has revealed plans for an impartial NFC industry council comprised of banks, telcos and card providers.

Credit card

NFC facilitates the transmission of data over a range of approximately 10cm. An NFC-enabled chip in a mobile phone can interact with a proximity card reader to make mobile payments.

Speaking to ZDNet Australia on Friday, Mansfield said that EFTPOS is planning to bring together as many industry stakeholders as it can to develop the best way to deploy near field communication technology in the Australian market by 2012, all the while panning the recent spate of lacklustre NFC trials.

"Rather than having a pilot, let's say to move forward and develop a business case and move along," he said, adding that the 2012 deadline was optimistic considering the amount of consultation required between industry stakeholders.

"It'll take a while, but I'm not worried about that to be honest. If we can come to market with a sustainable proposition some time in 2012, then that's great. We can do more pilots, but ... I think we're a bit piloted out to be honest," Mansfield said.

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