Vodafone and PayPal have joined forces to enable U.K. customers to make contactless payments in shops, restaurants and on transport services with their Android smartphones, funded from their PayPal accounts, according to a press release about the announcement.

From today, customers can link their PayPal account to Vodafone Pay to purchase goods and services by tapping their smartphone in more than 400,000 places across the U.K. that accept contactless payments. Vodafone Pay customers will also be able to use the service to pay to travel across the Transport for London network as well as on National Rail services in and around London that accept contactless and the Oyster fare system.

Purchases of up to 30 pounds can be made at any contactless terminal and users wishing to spend more can do so using Vodafone Pay at participating retailers through the use of a PIN. In addition to using their PayPal account, Vodafone customers can now add their Visa and Mastercard bank credit and debit cards to Vodafone Pay.

Vodafone Pay can even be used to make a payment when the phone is switched off or out of battery life because the contactless SIM can contact automatically to the contactless terminal to make the transaction.

"Our customers told us that being able to use PayPal when making mobile payments was important to them so we're delighted to now offer this on Vodafone Pay," Vodafone U.K.'s Head of Consumer Services Kate Wright said in a statement. "The service also works with any Visa and Mastercard credit or debit card offering customers greater choice than any other mobile payment service.”

"Money is going digital, and the smartphone is at the center of this transformation," said Rob Harper, director of mobile commerce PayPal U.K. "Mobile payments have long been at the heart of what we do. In fact, this year marks 10 years since we first launched a mobile payment service in the U.K. As mobile technology continues to evolve, we will continue to look at new ways to make it easier and faster for our customers to pay."