European Commission opens investigation into UK NFC payments joint venture
A joint venture of Vodafone, Telefónica SA, and Everything Everywhere (which itself is a joint venture of France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom AG) in the field of NFC payments is now being investigated by European Commission authorities, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s no secret that the young, NFC-based mobile payment industry seems to resemble complete anarchy. Several of these joint ventures are already following questionable (IMHO) practices, such as Verizon banning Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus.
As such, it’s no surprise that authorities are starting to take a more active stance in the industry. The statement by the European Commission states
“The Commission is in favor of any initiative that will develop the promising mobile commerce sector in Europe and bring new and innovative payment and interactive advertising experience to consumers. At the same time, we need to make sure that competing services can keep emerging on this market, so that incentives to innovate remain and customers get the best mobile commerce services at the best cost.”
The Commission has a timeframe of 90 days to decide whether or not the JV would be permitted to carry out its operations in the currently planned form.
[Wall Street Journal via Electronista]