Mobile billing allows people to charge their online purchases to their phone bill. It is also called direct to bill payments. It is different from mobile payments as these require the user to have a bank account or credit card to link to their mobile. This has caught on is Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. You can do it do it in many webshops, but also in many different sectors like in a mobile billing casino. However, there is still a lot of apprehension in using any mobile payments, be it mobile billing or otherwise. Some people still do not like to enter their account details online which may be due to fear of security breaches, previous experiences with fraudulent accounts or merchants, or just plain laziness, while others do not have credit cards so it is possible for them to purchase a lot of things online.
Companies that are mobile billers
Companies like BilltoMobile, Zong, and Boku are examples of mobile billers. They offer their mobile payment software to merchants and they usually charge 10% to 20% of the transaction price to process it and charge the purchase to the user’s phone bill. Phone carriers usually put a cap on the billables, around USD 100 to prevent bill shock. So purchases are limited to online games, music, videos, and other data products.
To grow, mobile payment companies have to gain the trust of businesses and consumers alike. They need to be endorsed to consumers by merchants and they need to prove to consumers that mobile billing transactions are secure and legit, and all transactions will be transparent and itemized.
At this time, mobile payment companies vet merchants by visiting sites physically to ensure existence and veracity of the business. There is also a standing commitment to process refunds as efficiently as possible. And it has been agreed between phone carriers and mobile payment businesses to suspend mobile billing should a user report his phone lost or stolen