If plans push through, wallets may no longer be a necessity in making financial transactions. The “Big Three” of mobile telecommunications announced Tuesday its plan to jointly launch the pioneering mobile fare payment system program.

AT & T Mobility, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless revealed this ambitious plan which is set to be tested in Salt Lake City by 2012. To be called by the name Isis, the joint venture is set to become the alternative to credit and debit cards.

Michael Abbott, CEO of Isis, said that the program aims to implement wallet less transactions in Salt Lake City and eventually other cities in the United States. Under this program, consumers will only need their mobile phones to pay for their fare or make purchases.

While it may seem as simple as swiping your phone to pay for your fare or shop for grocery items, analysts claim that it is more than just a simple swipe of the phone. Charles Golvin, principal analyst of Forrester Research Inc. said that the microchips required to make the Near Field Communications wireless technology possible is not yet at the hands of mobile phone providers.

Most providers are set to roll them out next year but it will take time before they become accessible to consumers. The Utah Transit Authority already has the technology to make the program possible, but most shops in the area would have to start upgrading their systems.

Golvin said that adopting the technology would be slow and will take some time. But since three of the four biggest cell providers are jointly supporting the new technology, it is expected to gain some ground in the coming years.

Research In Motion Ltd., the company that manufactured BlackBerry, revealed that most of its units will be loaded with the NFC chips in the latter part of this year. Google’s Nexus S is already equipped with one while its latest Android software will already be NFC compatible. Nokia has already promised to equip its next generation smart phones with the NFC chip. Rumors have it that the new iPhone to be unveiled this summer will be equipped with an NFC chip but Apple refuses to make comments.

AT & T’s Mark Seigel expects the new technology to quickly expand throughout the country similar to how text messaging became an instant hit. Seigel said that a decade ago camera phones were not that popular. However, nowadays, it is unlikely to buy a phone without a camera.

NFC technology had been planned by the mobile phone industry years ago because of the “electronic wallet” feature. However, despite a few trials, the technology did not gain ground except in Japan where the program has been implemented and most mobile phones already have the NFC chips.

With the program, consumers will attach a credit card or checking account to their cell phone. They will just swipe it to make purchases or pay for their train or bus fares and the transaction will be automatically paid.

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