First unveiled back in 2012 under the name Project Oscar, Weve saw EE, Telefonica and Vodafone band together to fight for a slice of the fast growing mobile commerce pie.

Originally pitched as a SIM-based platform for mobile NFC payments, the platform was later recalibrated to initially concentrate on building a clearing house for business-to-consumer mobile marketing.

However, in February a deal was struck with MasterCard to push ahead with the payments plan. Weve promised to clean up the "mess" of mobile commerce and bring NFC-based m-payments to the masses by tapping into the relationships that MasterCard has with banks to let customers link their card accounts to their handsets through their bank apps.

The service was supposed to go live in the first half of next year but, according to the Telegraph, has now been abandoned amid conflict between the operators on how to run it.

News of the U-turn comes in the wake of Apple Pay's launch, which would have effectively killed off the chances of Weve making any inroads with iPhone owners.

The three telcos - which have invested tens of millions of pounds in Weve - are all working on their own mobile contactless payments services. EE has its Cash on Tap app, Telefonica is working with Monitise while Vodafone will launch its own offering in the next few weeks.

In a statement to Finextra, Weve says: "We continue to believe there is a great deal of potential in mobile contactless payments and we are currently working on developments where Weve can help streamline the mobile payments process."

Meanwhile, the venture - which lost CEO David Sear to Skrill over the summer - will continue to concentrate on its loyalty and marketing services.