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No. 3 U.S. mobile carrier Sprint is planning to launch its own NFC mobile wallet as early as this summer, NFC Times has learned, as the mobile wallet war in the United States continues to heat up.

New Orleans – Phone maker HTC is displaying three high-end NFC phones at the International CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans, including its Droid Incredible 4G LTE, destined for U.S.

Google and PayPal have reportedly expressed concerns to European antitrust regulators, saying they fear that if major UK mobile operators are allowed to form their proposed NFC mobile-commerce joint venture, they would have too much power to control secure elements in NFC phones, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

Google has put an unlocked version of its Galaxy Nexus Android phone on sale for GSM networks in the United States, which would open up the Google Wallet to customers of AT&T and T-Mobile.

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.

While he announced that U.S. mobile operator Sprint will introduce more than 10 additional NFC phones supporting the Google Wallet this year, Osama Bedier, who heads the wallet program at Google, revealed few other details about how the Web giant plans to boost the wallet’s market presence.

U.S. mobile carrier Sprint has announced two more phones supporting the Google Wallet, including Google’s new Android smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus.

Google has confirmed in statements to the press that Verizon Wireless is trying to block it from offering the Google Wallet on its own Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which Verizon is expected to put on sale later this month.

Google is ramping up the promotion of its Google Wallet, announcing that eight retail chains accept both payments and coupons or rewards with a single tap of their Nexus S 4G NFC phones.

While handset makers are beginning to ship more popular smartphone models with NFC inside, some key industry observers say they expect significantly fewer than 40 million NFC phones will be shipped for all of 2011.