A six month trial of near field communications (NFC) technology in London by O2 and Nokia has been hailed as a significant endorsement of the short-range wireless comms technology.

“Nine out of ten trialists were happy using NFC technology on a mobile phone and 78% said they would be interested in using contactless services if available,” said Nokia.

The trial, which involved over 500 existing O2 customers, took place across London using a Nokia 6131 NFC mobile phone installed with the O2 Wallet application, which included Oyster and Barclaycard Visa payWave payment cards in virtual form.

This enabled users to pay for travel on the underground and buses across London and also top-up their Oyster at Oyster ticket machines.

The trial also found that 67% of users found the mobile phone-based NFC payment technology more convenient to use than a standard Oyster card.

Interestingly, Nokia noted that 87% said that availability of the service would be likely to influence their purchase of a new mobile phone.