LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2014: Japanese operator KDDI joined three other Asian carriers to launch the Asia NFC Alliance, a move intended to drive the development of mobile near-field communications services across the region.

Speaking during a keynote session at Mobile World Congress, KDDI chairman Tadashi Onodera said earlier efforts to drive e-money and mobile money initiatives had tended to be localised and non-interoperable, but NFC provided the opportunity to take a common approach.

KDDI has therefore joined forces with Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan, HKT (Hong Kong) and SK Planet of South Korea, to review the standardisation of NFC tag specifications, common brand marks and NFC platforms to allow users in the Asian region to use mobile NFC services at home and abroad

The alliance also plans to work on resolving issues facing the popularisation and expansion of mobile NFC services in collaboration with the GSMA.

“We hope that this alliance will be an open organisation for the expansion of overseas cooperation services,” Takashi Tanaka, president of KDDI, said in a statement on the formation of the alliance. “We aim to actively promote collaboration with telecommunications carriers not only in Asia but in Europe and America, and create a world in which users in every country can avail themselves of NFC services.”

Onodera was speaking during the same keynote session as Isis CEO Michael Abbott, who provided an update on latest developments with the NFC-based mobile wallet established by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US and Verizon Wireless

When asked if he would like to see an Isis-like system in Japan, Onodera said “it’s very attractive…we have FeliCa services [Japan’s contactless payment service] but as operators we don’t get any money from it. Isis consists of three operators; it’s a very good idea.”