Can Global Telcos Replicate the UK's Success with PayForIt?
PayForIt is the consumer-facing brand of the UK's five operators and the PayForIt scheme in the UK is the first move by operators to provide a standard direct-to-bill charging facility. It promises a safer consumer experience by asking accredited payment intermediaries (aggregators) to improve transparency, consistency and usability of charging.
With 1st September 2007 the final deadline for scheme compliance, Fran Heeran, CTO, Valista asks what global lessons can be learned from the UK's success in getting cross operator agreement on a payment standard.
"Direct-to-bill charging, provides third parties with a transaction oriented, real time interface to an operator's billing infrastructure. It also provides greater support for post purchase operations such as refunds and enables more innovative consumer offers by allowing for greater flexibility in pricing. PayForIt addresses the issues surrounding Premium SMS, including the lack of transparency on volume and frequency of charges, and is the model for the next evolution of the mobile content market.
"Given the advantages that PayForIt will bring to operators, aggregators and users in the UK, the question arises as to whether it can be duplicated around the world and if so in what forms. As many of the US operators do not have the same willingness to work together as they do in the UK, Valista believes that US operators may choose to implement the rules themselves rather than forcing aggregators to comply.
"Global consistency in the adoption of a standard scheme is not vital, although aggregators would value uniformity to help maximize the return on their investment. Valista believes that European countries are more likely to follow the UK model, with some variations, whereas the U.S carriers may opt for a different approach to solve the same issues."
"In Valista's view, the introduction of Payforit marks a step change for the mobile content industry, and while it may not be replicated in the same way across the world, it certainly will help to solve a number of key issues facing today's operators. While a common pan-European solution is not necessarily required, operators, aggregators and content providers do need to work together at a regional level to deliver a better consumer experience for their services to enable the next growth phase for the mobile content market."
Posted to the site on 11th July 2007