Isis, the joint venture between three of the top four US mobile operators, has announced that it will work with the country’s leading payment networks – Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express – to roll out its planned mobile commerce service. The move confirms reports from earlier this year that AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, which are the operators behind Isis, had rowed back from ambitious plans to launch their own payments network.  Instead Isis will now work with the existing, leading payments networks in the US (Visa, Mastercard and Amex) to introduce its service. Smaller player Discover was part of Isis’s original strategy announced at the end of last year. Another smaller player Barclaycard is also working with Isis. 

The Isis announcement emphasises its “inclusive approach” that engages with “all critical stakeholders”. “Since the formation of Isis in November, we have been committed to building a mobile commerce platform that aligns and advances the interests of consumers, merchants and banks,” says Michael Abbott (pictured), chief executive officer for Isis. But reports from earlier this year spoke of a change in strategy. The mobile operators clearly decided creating their own payments network was too much of a hard slog. Better for the operators to create a wallet for users’ existing credit and debit cards.  Isis will now push ahead with its plans. It is planning to launch its service in the first half of 2012 in Salt Lake City and Austin.