Telefónica and Bango Partner for Operator Billing System

Mobile payments company Bango has signed a global framework agreement with Telefónica Digital - the operator's tech division - to create a direct-to-bill payment system for app stores. 

The partnership will connect Telefónica's 314m subscribers to the Bango payments platform through the operator's BlueVia payment APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), meaning that in-app payments can be charged to users' monthly bills.

“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,” said 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.”

According to Bango, the introduction of direct-to-bill payments in developed markets with high credit card penetration have seen sales of digital goods increase by 300-400 per cent.