Swiss Telcos to Share Tapit NFC Mobile Wallet Platform

Swiss telco Swisscom has launched an NFC mobile wallet app called Tapit, with the country’s two other major telcos expected to follow later in 2014.

The wallet is a shared platform among the telcos. Customers of the other two telcos, Orange and Sunrise, plan to launch NFC services later this year. Their agreement is not a joint venture, however, like JVL Ventures in the U.S., which is better known as Isis.

Tapit, which Swisscom launched last week, supports Visa-branded prepaid and credit cards issued by Cornèrcard, and a spokesman for Swisscom told NFC Times that a MasterCard-branded card from payments company the Aduno Group/Viseca will be available for Tapit in August. Banking group UBS is also set to issue MasterCard and Visa cards for Tapit but has not set a launch date.