Telekom Austria’s mobile operator A1 has decided it will not launch a commercial NFC-based mobile payment service, citing customer feedback that was unenthusiastic about a lack of interoperability.

A spokeswoman for the operator told Der Standard that subscribers wanted a service that worked across all operators in the country in addition to A1, as well as working internationally. Other problems included slow or failed NFC-based transactions during the trial, as well as a limited range of NFC handsets.

The current service, which appears to be an extended pilot, will end on December 31.

A1 launched an NFC-based pilot with a lot of optimism earlier this year. The pilot enabled users to make payments at McDonald’s and Merkur, a local supermarket. It ran until July. Telekom Austria CEO Hannes Ametsreiter made positive remarks about the prospects for NFC at the time. The next stage was to extend the pilot to 5,000 users.

However the operator says it has not given up on mobile payments services. For instance, the operator plans to offer a Visa-based A1 card app for smartphones.

A1 looked like an operator who might make a success of NFC-based services. It is one of the few mobile operators to hold a banking licence via its Paybox Bank unit. It also claimed to be the first operator in the world to launch NFC in 2007.