Based on my experience of launching mobile carrier billing in the UK. Weichiehhuang.com

1. Carrier Billing in United Kingdom
Wei Chieh Huang

2. 1. Market expansion – Some markets have higher mobile market
converge than other popular online payment options.
2. User behavior and accessibility – Not everyone has a credit card
but almost everyone has a mobile phone.
3. Risk management – credit cards payment yields a great
processing risk, fraud and chargeback. Carrier billing option
becomes a great alternative for chargeback prevention.
4. Flexible pricing models – carrier billing supports one-time
payment and recurring payment. For recurring, you can set up
the billing cycle for weekly, biweekly or monthly with a
reasonable price ceiling depending on the industry.
Why Carrier Billing?

3. UK Mobile Operators
Mobile Operator Market Share
EE 34%
O2 30%
Vodafone 25%
Three 10%
Virgin Mobile 1%
Comparison:
Credit card penetration 61.69% (39.98 million users)
Mobile phone penetration 100% (64.8 million users)

4. What is carrier billing?
 MSISDN = CC + NDC + SN
 CC = Country code
 NDC = National destination code
 SN = Subscriber’s number
 NDC + SN = Your mobile phone number
 MSISDN Forwarding lets a mobile subscriber accessing
content and pay with a single click. The mobile network
operator passes the MSISDN (mobile number) through the
webpage. No details need to be entered by the end user.
It is a quick and seamless payment experience.
 Depending on the mobile network, Direct Operator
Billing or Premium SMS Billing technology to facilitate
the transaction with MSISDN Forwarding.

5. Premium SMS (Short Code Billing)
 Short code messaging allows you to charge mobile subscribers
a standard or Premium Rate SMS amount (depending on the
country). Users can text into the short code and receive a
return message which is commonly referred to as a Premium
Rate SMS message.

6. Direct Operator Billing
 Also known as WAP billing, enables user
to make transaction and billed directly
to your carrier.
 In UK, an payment intermediary is
developed by UK mobile network
operators, called “PayForIt”
 With such scheme, customers are given
2 options to make transaction depending
on how they access to our website – WiFi
or data.

7. Sample flow using WiFi connection

8. Sample flow using mobile data

9. PSA (Phone-paid Services Authority)
 A regulatory body in the UK. Every country
has a regulator which determines what can
be sold via carrier billing.
 An account with PSA is required to enable
our merchant to sell via carrier billing.

10. User story – WiFi flow
1. User visits the landing page
2. User clicks “Continue” button
3. User is directed to PayForIt portal
4. User enters a valid UK mobile number and clicks “Subscribe Now…”
5. User receives a pin code from SMS
6. User enters the pin code and clicks “Confirm…”
7. User is directed to confirmation page and clicks “Confirm…”
8. User grants access to the content

11. User story – Recurring bill
1. User keeps the subscription and has sufficient credit on his phone OR user
remains subscribed a week after last bill and still has sufficient credit
1. PayForIt sends an OK status and it counts as a DELIVERED
2. User keeps the subscription but has insufficient credit:
1. PFI sends a FAILED status

12. User story – Cancellation
 User texts STOP to the given number to unsubscribe
 PFI sends a status UNSUBSCRIBED
 User calls the solution provider and requests to unsubscribe
 User calls the carrier and request to unsubscribe

13. Are you ready to launch?
 Existing market or new market?
 Are you already servicing in the UK? Are you ready for new market penetration or
you want to expand further in your current market share?
 Does your offer support the language, culture and user behavior (localization)?
Thank you

14. THANK YOU!
E-Mail: wei.chieh.Kenny@gmail.com
Website: weichiehhuang.com