Bango,
the company that helps businesses to promote and charge for mobile content,
today enabled users of mobile phones to pay for WAP content and services
directly to their bill using reverse SMS.
This service works across all UK mobile operators; users of T-Mobile, O2, Orange and Vodafone networks in the UK make micro-payments to any content provider by simply clicking a link on the screen of their WAP phone.
Operators across Europe have opened up premium rate, reverse-billed SMS as a standard way for simple content to be paid for across their networks. "We have taken this standard billing mechanism and applied it to interactive and rich content types which will power the future growth in mobile data services," said Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango.
"This means that it is easy and convenient for subscribers to pay for interactive content using their mobile phone accounts, and content providers can reach tens of millions of paying customers across the UK mobile networks."
Bango aggregates mobile billing solutions, making it easy for content providers to start making money from their valuable content. "We were looking for a way to make payment for our 'Saucy Tips' WAP service as easy as paying for ringtones," said Imogen O’Rorke, founder of youth lifestyle service, Rabbit-On. "With the Bango Premium Service, Rabbit-On users can pay for our 'Saucy Tips' by which ever method suits them."
The Bango platform lets consumers make micro-payments for mobile content directly to their bill and also via operator billing (Vodafone m-pay bill), premium rate calls, retail scratch cards and credit card top-up.
The
availability of network originated premium rate SMS services has revolutionized
the SMS content business, enabling delivery of ring tones and logos,
coupled with payment. Bango.net has used the interfaces provided by
operators to handle SMS traffic, but coupled these to interactive sessions
through WAP, GPRS, i-mode and HTML. Users can now, for example, pay
20p to see a colour image on their phone, or 5p to view a map. With
the deployment of “always-on” GPRS services, and colour phones,
it is vital that information beyond the 160-character SMS message can
be easily sold, without having to leave an interactive session to pay
through another means.
For content providers, Bango offers a low risk, low cost service. "It's not just a question of the cost involved in setting up a new billing service, it's also the time and hassle involved in managing operator relationships," continued Anderson. "Integrating with different operators' billing systems on a case by case basis can take months, tying up valuable resources."
According to Jupiter MMXI, the market for mobile content in Europe is forecast to be worth €3.3 billion by 2006. Although the majority of mobile content today is ring tones and logos, adult and entertainment content as well as location-based services will drive m-commerce revenues. Mobile phones are the ideal micro-payment platform for this mobile content.
