Paymark, New Zealand’s largest electronic payments provider, has announced that it will form a joint venture with mobile operators Vodafone New Zealand, 2degrees and Telecom New Zealand to deliver NFC-based mobile services.

The four companies intend to launch a trusted service manager (TSM) that will enable New Zealanders to make payments, collect loyalty points and use public transportation with their mobile phones.

According to Paymark, the TSM is designed to create a unified ecosystem in which all members – e.g. banks, mobile operators, loyalty program providers and transport companies – can offer NFC-enabled mobile services directly to their customers.

“It’s the first time this particular mix of organizations has come together to provide a centralized TSM which will offer world-class, yet low-cost infrastructure,” commented Simon Tong, CEO of Paymark.

Tong added that this collaborative approach to developing the NFC ecosystem should result in quicker development of new services and “seamless” delivery to end users – as well as lowered costs for merchants.

In the telco space, Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees will continue to compete for customers by developing their own NFC services on top of the open platform infrastructure provided by the TSM.