Four Swedish mobile operators announced they have formed a mobile-payments joint venture, the latest telcos to form a company to help them roll out NFC and other services.
The telcos, TeliaSonera, Telenor, Tele2 and 3, are apparently planning a common mobile-payments platform, which their respective subscribers could use for “all types of mobile payments,” with the goal of increasing transactions. Plans call for offering services as early as the summer of 2012.
Swedish subscribers now use their phones for paying for some transport and parking, according to a short announcement by the four telcos. Plans likely call for other types of payments, including at the retail point of sale. It’s unclear yet, however, whether the operators plan to offer their own payment services or only those of other service providers, such as banks. And there are few contactless terminals at the merchant locations in Sweden.