China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network operator, is set to launch its first NFC-enabled mobile phone, reports NFC World.

Slated to launch in the third quarter of 2012, the handset will be a version of Yulong’s Coolpad 8870 running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. The dual GSM/TD-SCDMA device will support a number of NFC functions, including card emulation, tag read/write and peer-to-peer modes and will come preloaded with a China Mobile Wallet application.

According to NFC World, the China Mobile app will enable users to load China Mobile co-branded banking cards from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank onto their mobile phones over the air. The company is also looking to add transportation card, access control, and membership and loyalty card services to the wallet.

The announcement follows last month’s agreement between China Mobile and China UnionPay to jointly develop mobile payments products and services and to launch NFC payments pilots across China.

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