EC Approves Project Oscar NFC Mobile Wallet Venture

The European Commission (EC) has “unconditionally approved” Project Oscar, the mobile wallet joint-venture (JV) between Vodafone, Telefonica UK and Everything Everywhere following a preliminary investigation.

The Commission is satisfied that Project Oscar is not anti-competitive and has paved the way for it to be launched as early as this year. Its investigation, which began in April, found that a number of alternatives already exist and more are likely to emerge in the near future, so it is not likely to create a monopoly.

“The Commission concluded that the joint venture will not likely lead to a significant impediment to effective competition in the EEA within the meaning of the Merger Regulation,” said the Commission announcing its decision.

Project Oscar

The partners have welcomed the decision and stated their intent to get the venture up and running as soon as possible, giving it a head start over the US-only Google wallet and the rumoured Apple iWallet NFC contactless payment system.

“In mobile payments, the JV will benefit businesses and consumers by accelerating the deployment of mobile wallets and associated services in a secure way,” the partners said in a statement. “Through the solution offered by the JV, businesses will be able to connect once in order to offer a wide variety of mobile wallet services – including payment and loyalty cards – to millions of consumers on the majority of handsets, operating systems and mobile operators.

“It will give consumers a simple and secure shopping experience, allowing them to purchase goods and services using their handsets in physical locations such as shops, using contactless technology, as well as online.”

The Project Oscar partners also reiterated their commitment to make the joint-venture open to any operator, MVNO, third party publisher, bank, ad agency or retailer.

“The partners in the JV believe it has an important role to play in helping to keep the UK at the forefront of digital innovation, creating jobs, promoting innovation and stimulating competition,” they said.

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