Telefónica Digital and Bango have announced they are to create a direct-to-bill payment platform for mobile app stores.
The partnership will combine Bango’s frictionless payment experience with Telefónica’s BlueVia Payment APIs, meaning over 314 million chargeable customers worldwide will become connected to the Bango Payments Platform.
This single, common platform will support operator billing and other payment methods, negating the need for customers to enter personal information or leave the payment session.
The two companies said a key goal of the partnership is to accelerate the availability of a standardized and open payment platform for all app stores and content providers and to dramatically improve the customer experience.
Further, the platform aims to generate higher payment conversion rates, especially from WiFi-connected and other “off-network” devices.
“At the heart of every great service is first class customer experience and both Bango and BlueVia share the vision that mobile payments must be seamless and low friction for the customer,” commented Jose Valles, head of BlueVia at Telefónica Digital.
“Through this partnership, we are delivering a mobile billing ecosystem that empowers the app store and content owners to achieve mass scale in their business through global reach and a payment method far broader than credit cards.”
Telefónica is rolling out direct-to-bill capabilities in its operating businesses and earlier this year announced global, framework agreements with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM.
The Bango platform automates all settlement processes, including tax reconciliation, local currency support and provides analytics and reporting, which the companies said would expand the attractiveness of operator billing to third parties.
“We will standardize on BlueVia to connect with Telefónica’s 314 million subscribers around the world and look forward to welcoming other operators who join this initiative, as Telenor has done,” added Bango CEO Ray Anderson.