The Mobile Payments Committee: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile unite for the future of payments

The mobile payments industry is still very much like the Wild West — there’s little law and order, and plenty of gunslingers itching to strike gold. But a new committee could finally civilize the mobile payments wild lands. The trade group Electronic Transactions Association announced the Mobile Payments Committee, a task force that includes representatives from all four of the major U.S. carriers, as well as others developing mobile payments solutions.

Chaired by Jackie Moran, Verizon’s executive director of federal relations, the committee will serve as a way to develop policy and business strategy for the mobile payments industry. Among the issues the committee is tackling, it will help participants figure out the complex business relationships necessary to make mobile payment options interoperable; help legislators and regulators understand how to develop mobile payments public policy; and educate consumers and merchants about the benefits of mobile payments.