This summer was expected to see Isis, a joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and Virgin Mobile ,provide an NFC-based payment system but an announcement made by the group has put the project on hold, according to a GogaOM.com report.

Isis officials have insisted that the delay is not related to the infrastructure or system changes, rather it has to do with ensuring the entire system is ready for all partners and consumers who have a stake in the project. The ultimate goal is to prepare the initiative for customer smart phone use and payments on day one.

With pilot tests of Isis’ system to take place in Austin and Salt Lake City, the company has insisted that its slow rollout is intentional. Isis has used the extra time to line up merchants, payment networks, banks, handset manufacturers and other investors.

Isis is not feeling the pressure just yet as Google Wallet— Google’s answer to NFC-based payments released a year ago— is yet to pick up steam in the current market. Furthermore, with a relatively small user demand for NFC-payment technology Isis doesn’t stand to disappoint a large customer base with the delay.