China Telecom Corp, the smallest of the country's big three telecom operators, on Nov 28 launched a new mobile payment service for smartphone users.

Its mobile purse uses the latest near field communication technology, which allows two phones, or related devices, to communicate with each other by touching them together or placing them a few inches apart.

Customers whose mobile phones are equipped with NFC will be able to pay for transportation, dining and shopping.

NFC-capable smartphones will also be able to authenticate a person's identity, speeding check-in at airports and allowing access offices with the swipe of a mobile phone, the company said.

"We will step up efforts in promoting NFC mobile devices," Yang Jie, general manager of China Telecom, said at a Beijing news conference.

Starting Jan 1, China Telecom's customized 3G smartphones will begin to support NFC, while the new technology will come standard in 4G models.

The number of smartphone models supporting NFC is expected to surpass 40 next year, Yang said.

As early as June last year, China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile carrier, was working with China UnionPay to launch a similar mobile pay service.

China's mobile telecom sector is dominated by China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

China Telecom is smallest by subscriber base, with 183 million mobile users at the end of October.

Its new mobile-pay service was built in cooperation with a dozen domestic financial organizations.