charge to mobile

Fonix to power mobile donations for The Prince’s Trust Awards on ITV

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Fonix logo in blue

 

Today, Fonix announced that it will be providing the text donation mechanic for The Prince’s Trust Awards. SMS will feature on the awards for the first time in its history. Hosted by Ant & Dec, The Prince’s Trust Awards will air today on ITV.

The Awards recognise young people who have succeeded against all the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.

Fonix will be working with The Prince’s Trust and ITV to provide a text-to-donate platform, enabling donors to send a text message to donate either £10, £20, £30 or £40, all charged to their mobile phone bills.

The Prince’s Trust helps young people from disadvantaged communities to get their lives back on track by giving them the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn. Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1976, the charity supports 11 to 30-year-olds across the UK who are unemployed, those struggling at school or at risk of exclusion. Since its inception The Trust has supported more than one million young people in the UK.

Clare Charles, Head of Client Management, said: “At Fonix, we have seen the huge impact of text donations across televised campaigns and are delighted that this will feature on The Prince’s Trust Awards show. We’re looking forward to seeing the results and the difference it makes to help support young people.”

Jessica Mitchell, Individual Supporters Manager for The Princes Trust, said: “Each year, The Prince’s Trust Awards allows us to celebrate the achievements and admire the resilience of young people across the UK and internationally. Incorporating fundraising into the show for the very first time is a natural and exciting addition for us. Fonix’s experience within the charity sector and continued success with text-to-donate made the partnership an exciting prospect.”

Take a Journey with Mobile Billing – EE BT event, supported by aimm

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

On the 23rd March EE/BT, supported by aimm, hosted the  ‘Take a Journey with Mobile Billing’ event at the BT Tower.

The aim of the event was to provide an introduction to Charge to Bill, as an additional payment method for the transport and parking sector.  The event demonstrated how – by giving a wider choice of payment options to their customers – the transport sector could reach those that may not wish to or are able to buy transport tickets the traditional ways.

Naomi Hone, Charge to Bill Manager at EE/BT said: ‘there are 72 million mobile phones in the UK, and carrier billing is already automatically enabled on most of them. This essentially means that the majority of people are walking around with a ticketing vending machine in their pocket!’

With speakers from aimm, EE, Kaleyra and Plusdial, as well as a panel featuring Fonix and DMB, answering questions  from the audience, it was a great opportunity to start the conversation around the opportunities that mobile billing can provide the transport industry.

aimm launches new consumer information site PhoneCharges.org

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Today is a really great day, as we launch our brand new consumer-facing website PhoneCharges.org.

Consumers needed a better way to investigate unknown charges on their phone bill, identify who charged them, and resolve their query as quickly as possible, and this is why PhoneCharges.org was born. In its simplest form, the site will signpost consumers to their own network’s number checker or to the PSA’s service checker to quickly identify who has charged them and obtain their contact details. It also contains basic information around what phone-paid services are, why consumers may have been charged, when refunds may be due etc.

PhoneCharges.org will provide users with links to the relevant pages of their mobile networks’ website or to the Phone-paid Services Authority Number Checker so that they can find out quickly where any charges have come from. Additionally, it will provide easy-to-understand information about how phone-paid services work, why users may have charges on their bill and when a refund may be due. It will also provide topical news stories from within the industry which will help consumers understand the types of services that use charge-to-mobile billing.

The website is funded by aimm and its membership, but has been built free of charge by The Cute Group who have a wealth of experience in handling customer queries in this area.

Andrew Fisher, CEO of The Cute Group said ““When aimm approached The Cute Group with a concept to help consumers navigate the maze that is the phone-billed services industry, we knew immediately it had our name on it. As a leading UK player supporting digital services for brands, publishers and content owners, Cute has rich experience understanding the kinds of queries, frustrations and confusion consumers face – and how to resolve them helpfully, and with as little fuss as possible.  We are excited to partner with aimm to bring PhoneCharges.org to life, building the site itself and contributing our experience to support the project as a whole.”

Joanna Cox, General Manager of aimm said “More often than not, queries about phone-paid services are due to a lack of post-purchase information and consumers end up complaining to the regulator who are unable to resolve specific cases. PhoneCharges.org is there to help consumers get the information they need and solve their queries as quickly as possible.”

We hope this site can help consumers better resolve any issues they have, increase their confidence in phone-paid services and, ultimately, create the conditions for growth in our industry.

Introducing Three Pay

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

After the demise of PayForIt, Three UK has taken the opportunity to give their Charge to Mobile service a refresh.

What is Three Pay?

 Three Pay is our own take on charge to mobile/carrier billing:

Three Pay lets you buy stuff like games, apps, and digital content on platforms such as Google Play, Epic Games, Microsoft, Spotify, and loads more. The cost is then added to your monthly phone bill or deducted from your Pay As You Go balance. Nothing to remember, nothing to store. Just sit back and enjoy.

Check out their video to learn more: 

What can you use Three Pay for?

Digital services and goods such as parking, charity donations, online games services, quizzes, competitions, music or TV subscriptions or adding credit to an online gambling service.

You can also pay for apps and some subscriptions from Google Play Store and Huawei App Store. Apple app store coming soon.

Fonix takes carrier billing for theatre tickets to the West End, powering payments for Young Frankenstein

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

The Fonix Carrier Billing solution enables patrons to purchase theatre tickets seamlessly from their smartphones.

London: April 2018:  Mobile payments and messaging specialist Fonix, has been selected to power the carrier billing service for Young Frankenstein theatre tickets, which is yet another deal signed in the ticketing sector; earlier this year Fonix announced the UK’s first carrier billing ticketing deal with the Cowes Floating Bridge.

The musical comedy, Young Frankenstein is currently playing in the West End at the Garrick Theatre. Utilising the mobile network operators’ marketing channels, consumers will be driven to a bespoke landing page, built by Fonix which will enable customers to purchase up to two theatre tickets effortlessly from their mobile phone.

The service uses Fonix’s Carrier Billing product to seamlessly charge the Young Frankenstein tickets straight to the consumer’s mobile phone bill, without the need to enter credit card details.

Anthony Baladi, the Commercial Director of Fonix, said: “Mobile really is the primary consumer touch-point for brands and organisations. As a result, consumers now expect brands to offer a mobile experience which is as frictionless as possible.

“This is a dynamic solution that Young Frankenstein clearly understands and we are excited to be partnering with them, to enable consumers to purchase theatre tickets in a totally quick and slick way.”

Paul Hicks, Ticketing and Revenue Consultant on Young Frankenstein, added: “User experience is everything, which is why carrier billing was such a natural choice for Young Frankenstein as it enables customers to purchase tickets with just a couple of clicks.”