Carrier Billing to Represent Over $14 Billion in Short-Term Revenue
The idea of paying for things on a mobile device by having the bill sent on to a mobile phone provider—otherwise known as carrier billing—is perhaps one of the earliest breeds of mobile payment systems around.
But despite its age, it’s still quite a revenue stream for carriers, and a new report from Juniper Research suggests that it will mean over $14 billion in revenues just over the next five years.
The Juniper Research report suggests that carrier billing won’t just be big for smartphones, but will also make the jump to things like tablets and game consoles, as well as televisions.
Paid conversion rates are said to be 30 times that of credit cards in some instances, and is opening up some previously inaccessible markets like younger consumers and consumers without banking access. With recent changes to carrier billing, there’s even provision made for subscription billing, also known as “ongoing content monetization.”
Throw in the ever-increasing numbers of places to actually make purchases via subscriptions like Netflix, HBO(!), Amazon, and Hulu’s over-the-top video streaming systems, and the market’s total size bursts any previously established bonds.
Some are looking to streaming sporting events to boost these numbers further, but others have cautioned that costs are likely to make that an impediment for the foreseeable future.
However, there are reports that the highly profitable National Football League’s rights are up for renewal in 2021, and that may well lead to more firms making a move on said rights. That’s too late to have any impact on these projections, though; but it may have an impact on future projections, particularly if it becomes clear some firms will make a move on the newly-available rights.
However, the key takeaways remain here: there are not only more carriers accepting carrier billing as an option, there are also more devices allowing for carrier billing and more things on which carrier billing payment methods can be applied.
More things to buy plus more places to buy them generally adds up to a greatly expanded market, all things being equal.
The convenience of carrier billing, which in a sense almost works like a credit card, provides an added reason to put such systems to work as well. It’s clear that carrier billing is prime for expansion in the near-term, and if Juniper Research’s projections bear out in the end, carriers should be particularly happy with this growing revenue stream.