Softcard (formerly Isis) has announced that its NFC-based mobile payment service will be available with US restaurant chain Subway nationwide from 1 October.

Subway was also among the outlets announced last week as accepting the rival Apple Pay service, which launches in October.

Subscribers to the Softcard payment service, which is backed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, will be able to make purchases at 26,000 Subway locations across the US.

Softcard and Subway ran a pilot earlier this year.

Softcard users equipped with certain Android handsets and a NFC-enabled SIM card will be able to make purchases in the chain’s restaurants. In addition, users of the iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and 5s can also make use of the Softcard app, providing they acquire an NFC-enabled sleeve that attaches to the iPhone.

However, this approach will not work for the new NFC-enabled iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, although Softcard CEO Michael Abbott said the venture is “actively working “ with Apple to enable its app on the latest iPhones in 2015. He said the aim is to use an integrated secure SIM-based hardware solution, without giving out further details.