The NFC joint venture of five Taiwanese mobile operators and the country’s largest fare-collection scheme have confirmed in recent days that it has hired a former sales director for Hewlett-Packard Taiwan and former sales manager at IBM Taiwan as its new CEO, as NFC Times first reported Aug. 5

The joint venture named as CEO Patrick Hsu, who most recently served as COO and head of sales for China and Taiwan for financial services for India-based Tata Consultancy Services.

The joint venture, officially formed recently by Taiwan’s three major telcos, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone, along with two smaller Taiwanese telcos, Vibo Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom, as well as EasyCard Corp., plans to launch trusted service manager and mobile-wallet platforms by early next year and is currently in the tendering process. EasyCard, a Taipei-based fare-collection scheme, is also accepted at around 10,000 retail outlets on the island.

Meanwhile, as NFC Times also reported earlier, yet another mobile operator and bank have announced plans for a trial and expected NFC commercial launch next year.

Taiwan Mobile, Taiwan’s No. 2 telco, along with Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, say they will conduct an employee trial that will lead to a launch next year, according to reports this week. The telco’s SIM cards will store a MasterCard PayPass application, which is accepted at around 25,000 outlets in Taiwan. Reports say the parties will also support loyalty, access-control and fare-collection applications.

Taiwan Mobile had originally planned to roll out NFC technology in 2008, and had even hired Gemalto as TSM, but the plans fell through.

The telco’s announcement this week follows announcements by Taiwan’s other two major telcos, including the country’s largest, Chunghwa Telecom, of NFC trials that they said would lead to commercial launches. Chunghwa Telecom has said it would launch trials with at least four banks, starting with Cathay United, which is underway. Chinatrust Commercial Bank and Taishin International Bank are expected to announce trials soon with the telco. The banks are also expected to issue PayPass, an applet that Chunghwa Telecom is certified and has regulatory approval to manage over the air using on SIM cards and its own TSM.

And No. 3 telco Far EasTone in July said it was launching a multiapplication NFC pilot among employees of its large conglomerate owner, Far Eastern Group. Applications will include both closed and open-loop retail payment, loyalty programs and transit ticketing.

In addition, Taiwan’s Bank SinoPac this week announced a trial that will use NFC-enabled microSDs with embedded secure element and embedded antennas. The microSDs use technology from U.S.-based DeviceFidelity. The bank plans to use the microSDs in Android phones.

While the various trials, especially those backed by the major telcos, are expected to lead to commercial launches, it’s not clear whether all will necessarily use the national TSM platform that the joint venture is developing.

The venture is expected to issue a request for proposal soon for the platform and mobile-wallet service. The backers of the venture are investing at least NT$150 million (US$5 million), though there is a report that the initial investment could be twice that amount.

Besides Hsu, the venture has appointed as technical director Johnny Chou, who has worked as a senior consultant and project manager at HP Taiwan.