Reports suggest the US operators are working on a plan to take on the credit card companies
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile USA are working on a contactless mobile payments service, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The report cites three people with 'direct knowledge' of the plan, which is thought to be backed by Discover Financial Services and Barclays and would see trials rolled out Atlanta and three other US cities.
Bloomberg makes a big deal about the service going head to head with the credit card giants, but in other countries where similar services have been rolled out the credit card firms have been key partners.
In terms of the practical arrangements, in-store contactless mobile purchases would be processed by Discover (which is the fourth largest payments network in the US behind Visa, Mastercard and Amex), with Barclays managing user accounts.
The three partners operators are said to be looking for a CEO to head the new venture.
Advertisement
