The Financial Times is reporting Google and PayPal are expressing reservations about the NFC mobile payment joint venture between the U.K.'s three largest wireless carriers. The JV is currently being evaluated by EU regulators. Google and PayPal are worried the partnership will be able to shut competitors out of access to the market, as well as access to chips installed on mobile devices that will enable mobile payments.

The U.K. JV, called "Project Oscar," is a partnership between Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere. Announced last year, the partnership has struggled to get off the ground. It has drawn a strong reaction from British wireless provider Three for being anticompetitive. Additionally, the plan was slated to launch sometime this year, but the venture has only recently filed necessary paperwork to EU regulators. Those regulators have already voiced their own concerns that the deal may be anticompetitive and have extended the amount of time they will evaluate whether or not it should go forward.

The Financial Times said in its report it received a detailed breakdown of problems the EU has identified with regard to competition for the mobile payment market in the U.K. if the JV moves forward. FT said investigators are looking specifically at the carriers' control of devices' SIM chips.

PayPal and Google have based their objections on the idea that any control of payment methods could limit consumers' choices.

"We hope that however this fast-moving market develops, there will be lots of choices for consumers," Google said in the post.

PayPal echoed those comments. "We believe that consumers should be able to choose from a wide range of payment methods," the company said. 

For its part, partners in the U.K. venture downplayed any issues. "We remain confident that an extended review will conclude that the proposed joint venture is pro-competitive and will provide robust competition to global players," a spokesman said in the Financial Times piece.

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