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One of Hong Kong’s largest banks and a major telco have announced plans to commercially launch NFC payments during the first half of 2013, putting a MasterCard PayPass credit application onto SIM cards issued by PCCW mobile.

Microsoft officially launched its Windows Phone 8 operating system with built-in NFC support Monday, with the first phones supporting the platform shipping this week.

Italy’s Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, or BNL, has launched an NFC trial in Rome, with plans to expand to both online and offline mobile payments and loyalty.

NXP Semiconductors’ NFC chip revenue grew by about 30% in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter, and sales approached $70 million, according to the Netherlands-based semiconductor supplier.

China Mobile reportedly plans to sell 10 million 3G NFC phones next year and to sign up 3 million users, according to a presentation by the telco’s vice general manager for e-commerce Wednesday at the NFC & Mobile Money Summit.

UPDATE: LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Google plans to announce a new version of its Google Wallet by mid-November, which would include a greater role for offers and expansion of the platform to other devices, including a possible app for the iPhone, NFC Times has learned. END UPDATE.

Google is expected to make a major announcement next week related to its Google Wallet, NFC Times has learned.

T-Mobile in Poland, as expected, today unveiled its planned NFC commercial service, planning to launch before the end of the month with a credit application issued by Polbank EFG that supports MasterCard PayPass.

MasterCard Worldwide announced today it is working with large Middle Eastern acquirer Network International to install PayPass terminals in 1,000 stores in the United Arab Emirates, including in coffee shops, fast-food restaurants, family diners, cinemas, general retailers and convenience stores.

Japan’s largest telco, NTT DoCoMo, has begun to make a key piece of its strategy for NFC known, announcing deals with MasterCard Worldwide and South Korea’s KT Corp. to enable subscribers to make payments when they roam in other countries.

ANZ bank plans to launch a second trial of contactless-mobile payment, a small employee pilot that will put the bank’s payment application onto SIM cards for use with NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy S III Android phones.

While giant UK retailer Tesco is following NFC and contactless payment “intensively” and continues to trial contactless acceptance in more than 30 stores, it has not yet committed to rolling out the technology, in part because of security concerns among customers, said one of Tesco’s mobile chiefs.