Vodafone Opening WAP Billing Platform

Vodafone's Japanese network is planning to open up its billing platform to 3rd party content suppliers from next year. With this service, customers can buy content from a WAP page and have the cost appear on their Vodafone K.K. phone bill. To coincide with the system's service expansion for V-applis, Vodafone K.K. will begin accepting applications from interested content providers from December 10.

Previously, only content providers that had their content registered on the Vodafone live! menu list as official content could charge for content by having Vodafone K.K. bill on their behalf. From June 2003, however, Vodafone K.K.'s open content charge service began offering open content providers a new charging option in addition to credit card payments, thereby increasing their business opportunities. By adding open content V-appli billing options, content providers will have more choice in content offerings and Vodafone customers will be able to enjoy an even greater variety of content conveniently and worry-free.

Vodafone K.K. has prepared a dedicated V-appli download server and content providers will be able to offer V-applis to customers by registering their applications on the server in advance. With this system, customers will be able to enjoy open content V-applis in a highly secure environment. Content providers can also bill according to methods that fit their business models by charging either monthly subscription or one-time fees for downloads."

Posted to the site on 10th December 2003