EasyPark Group, one of Europes leading providers of digital parking services, and mobile tech company Fortumo have teamed up to bring direct carrier billing to drivers using EasyParks service in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Thanks to Fortumos technology, consumers will be able to simply park their car and then text EasyPark with the relevant details (car registration number, parking zone, length of stay). EasyPark then facilitates the parking with the local municipality, while Fortumo handles the revenue collection and reconciliation from mobile operators.

The system means that users dont need to enter credit card information or even have access to mobile data, and as it relies on mobile phone billing even people without a bank account are able to easily make payments.

“Modern carrier billing infrastructure has commercial terms and technical features that bring it on par with card-based payments,” said Andrea Boetti, vice president of global business development at Fortumo. “This creates new growth opportunities for our telco partners, for whom it becomes possible to tap into business beyond the digital economy. We are proud to be selected as a payment partner by EasyPark. We look forward to making their users lives easier by giving them access to a simple and secure payment solution.”

EasyPark operates in over 700 cities across 13 European countries. The rollout of carrier billing will initially be focused on the three Scandinavian markets, but the firm is planning to expand it if it proves popular.

“We chose to work with Fortumo because of their proven technical skills and future-proof solutions,” said Mauritz Börjeson, chief business development officer for EasyPark Group. “With Fortumo, we can offer operator billing in all Nordic markets with oonly one interface, which allows us to provide customers with greater choice and flexibility when using our service seamlessly across markets. Its through partnerships like this that we are making sure EasyPark customers always have access to the very latest and most secure technologies available.”