MMN's Simply Tap mobile checkout technology - which went live with several UK retailers late last year - lets customers use their handsets to buy through adverts, direct marketing and Web sites.

Customers download a free iPhone or Android app and then go through a one-off registration process, providing their card details and delivery address. They can then make purchases at participating retailers by entering the Simply Tap codes placed by the firms in stores, in print advertising and on Web sites.

With former Marks & Spencer chief Stuart Rose as chairman, MMN has signed up Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy Europe, HMV, Thorntons and Goldsmith, among others to the system.

Visa Europe - which already holds a stake in Monitise - says that it will now use its massive presence in the UK, where £1 in every £3 is spent on one of its cards, to bring Simply Tap to the mass market. The card giant will also work with MMN to implement a number of unspecified m-commerce initiatives this year, says a statement.

Peter Ayliffe, CEO, Visa Europe says: "By 2020, we predict that more than half of all our transactions will be carried out on a mobile device. Our investment in the Mobile Money Network will support our aim to deliver a wide range of secure and reliable mobile payment services that help our members tap into the potential of m-commerce."