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Google will have a second NFC phone officially supporting its Google Wallet when Sprint launches the LG Viper 4G LTE Android handset later this month.

U.S. carrier Sprint, which remains Google's sole mobile operator partner for the wallet, announced availability of the new phone Tuesday, though in January had already announced that the phone was on its way.

Also in January, Sprint said it would offer another model supporting the wallet, Google’s own Galaxy Nexus, made by Samsung. The smartphone is due during the first half of the year.

To date, the only phone officially supporting the Google Wallet is Google’s Galaxy S 4G, also made by Samsung, though it’s possible to rig the Galaxy Nexus to run the Google Wallet on other networks. But those carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, are not supporting the wallet.

Google Wallet chief Osama Bedier said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February that Sprint will introduce more than 10 additional NFC phones supporting the wallet this year.

Sprint Tuesday said the Viper could be preordered starting April 12 and will go on sale for just under $100 with a two-year contract.

The phone supports Android 2.3, known as Gingerbread, and packs a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. It’s Sprint’s first LTE phone.

Sprint plans to launch its LTE network in six U.S. cities in mid-2012.