Bango’s 100th operator connection was in Columbia, connecting Telefónica subscribers into BlackBerry World. Those subscribers can now pay for digital goods and services without needing cards, pre-registered accounts or having to send SMS messages, instead they pay with one-click operator billing, charging purchases to their phone bill. This 100th connection means that Bango now has active connections in 47 countries, including the leading mobile operators in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and many more, and extends Bango’s reach to more than one billion mobile subscribers.
Bango’s strategy is to work with mobile operators to launch direct operator billing to app stores and brands. Bango focuses on key operator partnerships within local markets, which enables partners to offer paid content where it was not previously viable. Existing app store connections include Facebook, BlackBerry, Google Play and others.
Most recently, Bango has signed a global partnership with Telefónica Digital, creating an enhanced direct-to-bill payment experience for mobile app stores. The partnership combines Bango’s frictionless payment experience with Telefónica’s BlueVia Payment APIs, connecting over 314 million chargeable customers worldwide to the Bango Payments Platform.
Bango is emerging as the de facto payment standard on the mobile web. Bango’s pervasive presence across the mobile web, billing for app stores, publishers and mobile operators, enables Bango to automatically identify more mobile users, creating a massive platform effect for its partners. As a result, Bango maximizes the number of one-click payments presented on mobile devices, producing significantly higher rates of collection. This platform effect is Bango’s competitive advantage in the fast growing mobile payments industry.
As consumer spend migrates online and mobile devices see mass adoption, all modes of mobile payment are seeing a rise in usage. Operator billing is enjoying perhaps the biggest rise, as it capitalizes on the credit relationship in place between the mobile operator and the phone user. It’s a rare ace card in the hands of operators, who have watched as the app economy has unlocked a world of commerce “over the top” of their networks, while denying them a slice of these transactions. Operator billing is allowing them to fight back, while offering a truly frictionless payment experience to the user.
As smartphones continue their rapid penetration in the developing world, bringing the often quoted “next billion” online, this ace card will become increasingly important. In young smartphone markets, such as those in Latin America and India, penetration of bank accounts and payment cards is very low. Here, a user’s operator connection may be the only credit relationship in place. Bango expects much of its future growth to be generated from these emerging markets.
Commenting on the 100 operator connection milestone, Bango VP of Operations Karen Oakley said, “I’m immensely proud of the integration team which has driven us to the magic number 100. There is unprecedented energy now behind operator billing, as we unlock the win/win of frictionless payment flows and improved conversion rates. Much of my team’s focus is now on emerging markets, and we’re working hard to connect operators across Latin America, India and other parts of Asia.”
*Editor’s Note: By 28th March 2013, Bango had progressed to 105 live operator connections.
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