Transactions paid through credit cards may soon become a bygone era in Australia as telco carriers in the land Down Under study the possibility of enabling consumers to pay for purchased goods by using one's very own mobile phone or tablet.

The idea of "contactless payments" is not really a new innovation since the technology for it has been around for some time now. However, it still has to gain a good, solid footing because only a few mobile phones carry the small chips, called the near field communication (NFC), that are essential to make the mobile tap-and-go payments a reality.

The mobile tap-and-go payments concept allows consumers to select goods or services from a certain shop, and then scan their mobile phones over a point-of-sale sensor. The cash payment is immediately debited from a bank account that has been registered and linked to their mobile device.

Telstra, Australia's leading provider of mobile phones, mobile devices, home phones and broadband internet, as well as Vodafone, a British multinational telecommunications company headquartered in London, forecast that more NFC-enabled mobile devices will come into the global market in 2013.

"It's been promised for a long time, but by next year many devices on the market will incorporate near field communication," the AAP quoted Dr Hugh Bradlow, Telstra chief technology officer.

"NFC has been a slow burn, but it will likely become entrenched next year and we plan to be a big part of that."

The introduction of the technology, although much welcomed, along with its progress, will still depend on the customers, the Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) said.

"All of the big retailers will be looking at that technology now. All of them have got to focus on this innovation space," Margy Osmond, ANRA CEO, said. "I think it's comforting that smartphones will have the capacity to do it this year (2013).

"But retailers will move at the speed customers are comfortable with."

At present, Australian major retailers Coles and Woolworths were reported to have already started conducting their respective research into the concept of mobile phone payment systems.

For its part, Vodafone forecasts that in 2013, 80 per cent of all smartphones sold on its network will be NFC-enabled. In anticipation of this, it targets to launch within months its SmartPass app to facilitate the contactless mobile phone payments.

Vodafone developed the app in partnership with Visa. Using the credit card firm's existing Paywave network, it will support payments by swiping credit cards over a sensor.