WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Verizon will launch Danal's BilltoMobile payment service later this spring, enabling Verizon Wireless customers to charge online purchases of digital goods directly to their monthly Verizon Wireless bills.
 

Verizon Wireless customers will be able to pay for online content and digital goods that are downloaded and consumed on their personal computers from Danal's participating network of popular eCommerce merchant partners.

The mobile payment service will feature a $25-per-month spending limit for these purchases, along with content and parental controls for individual accounts, giving account owners the ability to manage their BilltoMobile usage.  When available, customers with text messaging-enabled phones will be able to shop quickly, securely and conveniently for Verizon Wireless-approved content at online stores, including game sites, social networks and virtual worlds.  Users will also be able to purchase subscriptions to popular online games.

"Verizon Wireless strives to bring its customers services and features they want and that make their lives simpler," said Ryan Hughes, vice president of business development at Verizon Wireless.  "Working with Danal will give our customers the opportunity to make direct online mobile payments with the most secure, feature-rich, convenient method available."  

"Verizon Wireless is combining the convenience of the mobile phone and its strong billing platform to provide their customers with a convenient mobile payment option," remarked Jim Greenwell, chief executive officer of Danal, Inc. in the United States.  "Verizon Wireless is the bellwether service provider in this space, and we see this agreement will likely be the beginning of a change in the industry's approach to online mobile payments -- one that involves ease of use and strong security for subscribers' mobile payments, as well as robust user controls that will help individual subscribers and families manage their digital purchases and digital lives."

The BilltoMobile payment service is simple for consumers.  To conduct a transaction, consumers click on the BilltoMobile button during checkout at a participating online Web site and then input their mobile numbers and mobile billing zip codes for subscriber authentication.  A text message is then sent to consumers' mobile phones with a one-time passcode.  Once consumers input this passcode into the online checkout window, the transaction is completed.  The entire process takes about 15 seconds, and there is no pre-registration or links to credit cards or bank accounts required.  In Korea, where Danal is the dominant mobile payments provider -- and where credit card penetration rates are even higher than in the United States -- 80 percent of all mobile subscribers have chosen to use direct mobile billing, and up to 60 percent of all online digital content purchases in Korea are now billed directly to mobile accounts.

BilltoMobile is now partnering with prominent online merchants in the United States, including popular online game publishers, virtual worlds, social networks, and other sites selling digital items, content and services online.  The attractive merchant fees associated with the BilltoMobile payment service, which are significantly lower than traditional mobile billing rates, along with strong security and merchant back office tools, is creating a major network of participating online sites.  Danal will be announcing some of its signed merchant agreements in the near future.