US provider of mobile messaging and applications CellTrust has revealed plans to develop NFC-provisioning APIs (application programming interface) using SecureSMS, in anticipation of NFC technology launch set to take off in early 2011.

CellTrust envisions SMS as the optimal method to provide NFC because it uses the mobile communications control channel, which is separate from voice and data and operates regardless of the voice or data being used. The control channel has high resiliency, low bandwidth requirements and was designed for carriers to send specific commands and instructions to the handset via SMS.

CellTrust's SecureSMS NFC APIs use Short Message Service Center (SMSC) and allow carriers to use their existing investment in SMS infrastructure while provisioning NFC. Carriers can integrate with the SecureSMS APIs and send secure commands and instructions to the handset to provision NFC with all types of transactions, including adding and deleting credit cards.

The adoption of NFC technology is expected to witness a significant increase since, according to study conducted by research company Juniper, 1 in 6 subscribers globally will have NFC phones by 2014. However the potential of NFC still needs to be unlocked, as concerns regarding security and the lack of NFC chips in existing handsets have prevented the industry from integrating at a wide-scale mobile payments on NFC-equipped devices.