O2UK brings carrier billing to Android

Android Users Can Charge Direct To Their O2 Bill

Telefónica’s UK mobile operation, O2, on Tuesday said that its customers can now pay for items in the Google Play store through direct carrier billing —adding the cost of apps and content into their monthly bill or deducting it from their prepay credit.

Dubbed Charge to Mobile the operator said its feature enables O2 customers to make purchases such as apps, films, TV, music, and electronic books and magazines from the Google Play Store and charge them direct to their mobile bill.

O2 said that its experiences offering similar capabilities through Microsoft’s application store led it to conclude that carrier billing is proven to increase conversion by up to 400 per cent by opening up a new payment channel for merchants, providing customers with a safe and easy payment method and removing the need for lengthy registrations, card numbers or PINs. Once registered on Google Play, customers can make quick purchases up to the value of £30.

O2 customers can already use the Charge to Mobile service across app stores and digital content retailers including Microsoft, Sony, Spotify and Facebook. The company said it already has over 100 merchants on board and has seen over 10 million transactions already.

David Plumb, Director at Telefónica Digital UK, said: “This new service offers our Android customers a different method of payment, which is quick, safe and simple to use.  The integration of Charge to Mobile into Google Play – the largest app store in the world – will be an integral step forward in making Charge to Mobile a customer favourite for mobile payment methods in the UK.”