The Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association, an alliance between mobile network operators Magyar Telekom, Vodafone and Telenor with MasterCard, OTP Bank and SuperShop, is launching a pilot to test a new NFC mobile payment solution in the country.

The pilot of the MobilTarca digital wallet will involve nearly two thousand consumers, who are currently being encouraged to register online to take part. Over a six month period the selected participants will test the contactless payment experience and the collection and redemption of loyalty points using the mobile app.

The carriers are providing the SIM cards for the service free of charge to the testers, as well as NFC phones that will either be free or available at "an exclusively reasonable offer during the test period".

OTP Bank will be issuing debit cards over the air to consumers' SIM cards. Customers can then tap their NFC phone at locations equipped with Mastercard PayPass and Maestro PayPass terminals to make a purchase and receive immediate confirmation of the transactions on their smartphone.

For loyalty point collection and redemption, testers will be able to use a mobile SuperShop card at locations participating in the SuperShop loyalty program.

According to The Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association, the launch of the payment solution is well-timed because of the increasing number of NFC-enabled smartphones now available in the Hungarian market.

The Association was established in 2011 with the aim of developing a technical and operational infrastructure for NFC services in Hungary.