UK Mobile operator O2 has chosen the small village of Rhiwbina in South Wales to demonstrate its O2 Wallet mobile payments app.

Rhiwbina, whose 11,000 residents have been without a single cash machine for two years, was selected from villages across the UK to gain firsthand experience O2 Wallet’s funds transfer and bar code-based price comparison features.

Launched in April 2012, O2 Wallet enables users to send and receive money as simply as sending a text message, receive coupons and offers, compare prices via bar code scan and shop online with a prepaid Visa O2 Money Account Card.

The current iteration of O2 Wallet does not include support for NFC, but the operator is expected to introduce NFC in the near future, according to market research firm Ovum.

Residents of Rhiwbina used O2 Wallet in a variety of ways during the trial, including paying back IOUs, splitting the cost of a round of drinks at the pub and giving pocket money to their teenagers. The production team from O2 Guru TV documented their experiences, which can be viewed in the video below.