Only this morning, we posted research which predicted that take-up for NFC mobile payments would remain low until after 2015. Well, Juniper Research apparently disagrees.

More than one in four of US and Western European mobile phone users – 29 per cent, in fact – will use their NFC-enabled mobile phone in store to pay for goods by 2017, according to a Juniper report. For comparison, that figure is currently less than 2 per cent.

“NFC retail payments are still at an early stage, but hold great promise,” says report co-author Dr Windsor Holden. “In 2011, we saw significant strides made within the ecosystem such as the launch of Google Wallet; the announcements of more mobile wallet consortia; and the supply of an increasing number of NFC-enabled smartphone models. NFC is now impacting the public consciousness, and we expect a rapid market expansion from 2012 onwards.”

By 2017, the report forecasts the global value of NFC mPayments to exceed $180bn – and it points towards NFC projects as a way for operators to offset declining ARPU.

The report also warns, however, that NFC retail payments services must be deployed with a fully integrated and tested customer care channel if they are to truly take off. If a single point of contact, to resolve users problem quickly and efficiently, isnt set up, the report says, users will desert the service.

The NFC Mobile Payments & Retail Marketing 2012-2017 report can be downloaded here, along with a free whitepaper, No Contact Required, here.