M-payment: EU Commission Clears UK Mobile JV

• Rumours relayed in the beginning of September are now confirmed as the European Commission clears British operators’ JV (Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere JV). Their Projet “OScar” aims at developing and proposing new mobiles services, including nationwide payments, and has been “unconditionally approved” by the relevant authorities.

• The Commission’s preliminary investigation (started last April) mainly focused on potential competition concerns and the impact of the consortium on new entrants.

Source: Press release

• Free competition issues expressed by 3 UK should, eventually, not hinder this project.

• As the number of m-payment initiatives is on the increase in the UK, the JV may take advantage of the already available O2 Wallet (launched last April) to challenge rival offers. The British m-payment market displays yet another nationwide initiative, likely to threaten other now popular solutions, including BarclayCard’s for instance.

• A dedicated company may be envisaged by Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere in the near future, and 3 UK would be interested in getting involved in the project as soon as possible.