Bloomberg is reporting that sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T- Mobile USA, have estimated planned total investment by the three carriers at more than $100 million. A source cited in the article said the carriers may invest hundreds of millions more if the idea gains traction.

This is the first report that attempts to put a price tag on Isis. (Though other than the $100 million figure, the Bloomberg story provides few new details and rehashes previously published information and analyst projections.) To date, the level of financial support for Isis, and the overall enthusiasm for the project within the three partners, has been hotly debated.

Isis was initially launched in November as a competitor to the major card brands. Since then, Isis has been reported to be revising its business model. It has now even entered into agreements with its erstwhile competitors, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, to allow those brands to send payment traffic over the Isis network. The move was viewed by some as a capitulation by the company to the difficult realities of creating a competing payment method.

When the agreements with the cards brands were announced in July, Isis CEO Michael Abbot said the news was actually a part of Isis' plan to promote an open mobile payment network.

"By working with the nation's payment networks — Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express — we significantly advance the vision of an open and secure platform that provides banks and merchants with a new and highly relevant way to connect with consumers," Abbot said.

The only Isis employee who responded on the record to Bloomberg was Jaymee Johnson, identified in the story as Isis' "head of marketing." (The company's CMO is actually Ryan L. Hughes.) Johnson said Isis "remains on track" for the previously announced launches of pilot programs in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City in early- to mid-2012. Johnson refused to comment on funding to Bloomberg. Spokesmen for the three wireless partners didn't comment or didn't respond to Bloomberg.

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