EU to review U.K.’s NFC payments venture ‘Project Oscar’
21 March, 2012
category: NFC
Mobile operator 3UK has asked the European Commission to investigate “Project Oscar,” a U.K. mobile payments joint venture from Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone, according to PCWorld.
3UK claims that the joint venture, which would enable customers to make payments using debit accounts on NFC-enabled handsets, is “discriminatory” in that the three companies involved account for more than 90% of U.K.’s mobile subscribers.
The EC has until April 9 to either approve Project Oscar, or go ahead with a deeper investigation.
According to PC World, Project Oscar was intended to launch this summer, but will likely face a delay as the EC has yet to complete legislation on digital payments.
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