State-owned China Mobile will launch NFC services to its nearly 700 million subscribers beginning in February 2013, according to a report on NFC World. The services will be available in 12 Chinese provinces, reaching 50 cities.

NFC World reported that China Moible intends to sell 10 million NFC-enabled phones from eight handset makers during 2013.

Earlier this year, China Mobile announced a partnership with Chinese bank card provider China UnionPay to offer a mobile payment service using NFC. Given that both companies are virtual monopolies in China, any mobile payment partnership between them could quickly become the world's largest such enterprise.

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