There was a time when we would talk about the advent of plastic money. Doing away with the need of carrying some cash around all the time with the elegant swipe of a card was something notable for every one of us. But what if you could do away with even that?

Three telecommunication bigwigs have amalgamated their ideas and resources to add yet another talent to already-gifted smartphones: contactless payment. The news, which first emerged in Bloomberg, says that very soon we will be able to buy stuff just by waving our smartphones. The whole project has been undertaken by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA, with quite a bit of support from Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc, and the whole idea is being tested out in stores in Atlanta and a few other cities on a pilot basis.

The technology would rely on radio-frequency identification (RFID), where detection with a scanner would be made possible by an embedded chip or an antenna. The three major carriers look forward to oust over a billion plastic cards, just in the United States.

Though similar trials had been made in the past, for example, by Mobil in the year 1997, this is the first time such an attempt will take place in a large scale. If successful, the system would be highly convenient, and this is where credit and debit cards stand the risk of getting vastly replaced. As for the cost factor, the new scanners would cost $200 for retailers and buyers need to pay just $10 to $15 per handset to get the chip embedded.