Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T- Mobile USA plan to invest more than $100 million (€69.2 million) in their joint venture that lets consumers pay for goods with mobile phones, people with knowledge of the project said.

 

The investment sets up a showdown between the venture, known as Isis, and rivals like a mobile-payment service from Google Inc. The amount of funding depends on how successful Isis is at attracting banks and merchants, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the financing is private.

 

The carriers have created the alliance to grab a piece of the market for mobile commerce, which lets consumers buy things by tapping devices against a reader at checkout. The market may reach $670 billion by 2015, Juniper Research says. The carriers may invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the venture if it gains followers, one person said, helping it catch up with Google, which unveiled its own mobile-wallet service in May.

 

“Over the long haul, operators have to create new businesses that derive value from more than access,” Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst in Issaquah, Washington, said in an interview. “It’s a given that people are going to be transacting more over cell phones. It could open a potential new revenue stream for them.”

 

Worldwide mobile payments will generate $240 billion this year, growing two to three times that amount within the next five years, according to consulting firm Juniper Research.