A spokesman for Isis said he could not confirm the report, which was first made by the , citing people with knowledge of the project without naming them. Spokesmen for the three carriers -- AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA -- would not comment or could not be reached to comment.

Isis is set to launch pilot projects in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, in 2012 using near-field communication to make payments for goods and services. In July, Isis announced it is working with the four largest credit card providers, Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, on the project. All four are expected to license to the smartphones that the Isis carriers will sell.

Separately, announced in May its own with Sprint, MasterCard and Citi, starting in cities including San Francisco and New York.

Visa last May announced its own initiative as well, which could move forward separately from its affiliation with Isis.

Analysts have characterized the mobile wallet revolution as slow to materialize in the U.S., compared to Japan and South Korea, partly because of competition between financial services companies. Any successful NFC mobile wallet initiative will require a critical mass of NFC-ready phones, willing retailers and cooperative banks that would back the credit extended to the phone users, said analyst Bob Egan of The Sepharim Group.