The company will collaborate with its wholly-owned subsidiary Boku Account Services and leading MNOs in the market to combine e-money services with billing, in a move the company said is designed to revolutionise the industry.
Carrier billing in Europe has so far operated under an exemption to the EU’s Payment Services Directive (PSD), which is designed to facilitate carrier billing purchases for digital content.
Through the latest initiative, the carrier billing solution can be used to purchase all types of goods and services, including all sectors of e-commerce. It also sets up a clear regulatory protection framework for consumers and merchants.
“Up to now, buying stuff and charging it to your phone bill has been restricted, limited to digital goods and operating in a regulatory framework designed years ago to handle ringtone downloads,” said Jon Prideaux, CEO of Boku. “We are now entering a new era for carrier billing. Boku has reinvented carrier billing as a mainstream payment method.”
Boku is partnering with UK operators O2, EE and Vodafone in the UK, and plans to extend the solution to other major MNOs.
