Canadians may be paying for items with the tap of an NFC-enabled phone by the end of 2012.

According to Reuters, Canadian banks, credit card companies and telecoms are reaching an agreement on an NFC payment service that will capitalize on Canada’s robust contactless infrastructure.

“In Canada, we are more ready than probably any country in the world,” said David Robinson, head of emerging business at Rogers, Canada’s largest wireless provider. Robinson added that Canadians may be using their NFC phones for payments, ticketing and coupons in as soon as six months.

Such a service would be offered through Canada’s telecoms, who would charge a flat annual fee to allow banks to store a customer’s financial information, e.g. credit and debit card accounts, on the SIM card of an NFC phone.

Canada’s three main telecoms have already formed a joint venture, Enstream, that plans to launch a TSM platform this summer.

According to Reuters, Canada has more contactless readers per capita than anywhere else in the world, with 12% to 15% of all retail outlets now accepting contactless payments.

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