It has been predicted by experts that one out of every five mobile phones would be, within three years, supporting the technology of contactless payment.

It has been further forecast that within three years' time atleast one fifth of mobile handsets in the United Kingdom would be able to replace the debit card of a customer.

At present there is hardly a mobile phone on sale in the United Kingdom that can be used to pay wirelessly for shopped goods such as train tickets and take away coffee.

However, Juniper, the market analyst has predicted that anything in excess to 300 million smartphones would be offering the services based on the technology of contactless payment by 2014.

The contactless mobile phone payment technology, which is also known as Near Field Communications (NFC) can simply turn mobile phones into wallets.

The author of the forecast report of Juniper, Howard Wilcox said that inspite of there still existing stumbling stones ahead, the prospects of NFC have gained a boost by the succession of operators and vendors of network and devices.