Telefonica enhances carrier billing

Spanish operator group Telefonica has signed a deal with mobile money solutions provider Mopay aimed at improving its carrier billing capabilities. The operator has granted Mopay direct access to Telefónica’s billing platform BlueVia.

BlueVia is a set of APIs allowing app developers to interface with mobile networks. It was launched by Telefónica in August 2011, and in October 2012 Norwegian operator group Telenor became an equal partner to the API platform.

The deal announced today enables consumers in the nine countries in which Telefónica Services are currently available to purchase digital goods and services and charge those purchases to their phone bill, said Mopay. It added that carrier billing integration is valuable particularly for the emerging markets of Latin America where the ability to pay via a handset with charge to mobile billing has become very popular.

Telefonica will be speaking at the Broadband World Forum, taking place on the 22nd – 24th October 2013 at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre, Amsterdam. Click here to download a brochure for the event and here to register for a conference pass.

Consumers can select to use the Mopay payment process purchasing a digital or virtual item online. Once the phone number has been provided and the user is authenticated, the purchased amount will be billed to the respective mobile phone account. No registration or further information is requires. The solutions vendor said that this simplicity drives conversion rates and makes mobile carrier billing one of the most important payment channels in emerging markets.

“We are glad that Mopay has decided to integrate with Telefónica’s billing platform, which will surely benefit the company’s high-caliber merchant base,” says Jose Valles, VP partner products at Telefónica Digital.

In May this year, Telefónica announced a global direct carrier billing deal with Korean device maker Samsung. Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung will integrate BlueVia payment APIs into its handsets and tablets for Telefónica customers.