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Visa Inc. has launched what it calls its first test in Latin America and the Caribbean of phones enabled with Near Field Communication technology. NFC is a short-range wireless technology that enables contactless payments and ticketing, coupon and other data downloads. The test, kicked off this month in Guatemala City, Guatemala, is scheduled to run for six months, Visa says in a statement. Visa officials did not respond by CardLine Global's deadline. Visanet Guatemala, Banco Industrial and Banco Uno also are participating in the test, which enables at least 200 Visa cardholders to store their credit card data on mobile phones with Visa's contactless payWave application. Fast-food restaurants and movie theaters in four of the country's largest shopping malls will accept the mobile-phone payments, Visa says. Those malls include Pradera Concepcion, Unicentro, Pradera Z-10 and Miraflores.
