direct carrier billing

European digital content industry will triple by 2026

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

The European digital content industry reached last year almost €45.3B in terms of revenues and will reach €114,6B in five years (x3). These data result from an analysis carried out by Telecoming, a company specializing in monetization technology (Adtech and Direct Carrier Billing) since 2008. The firm has studied the evolution of digital content consumption in Europe.

Last year, 498M Europeans accessed digital content and spent on average €15 per month. 52% of total revenue came from video, games (34%) and music (14%). The study concludes that the consumption trend will go up. In 2026 a total of 606M users will consume digital content and increase their monthly spending to €30.5 per month. The video games sector, perhaps driven by the metaverse, will be the sector that will experience the highest growth. In five years, it will account for 47% of the total income of the digital content industry, above video (42%) and music services (12%).

Roberto Monge, Chief Operations Officer at Telecoming, stated, “the European digital content industry is very dynamic, and the average spending will continue growing. The subscription model will predominate because it meets users’ expectations. The UK and Germany are the leading digital entertainment markets, with great growth potential.”

 

The UK, the leading video consumer

In 2021, the UK was the country that consumed the most digital video services (44% of the population). In 2026 it will also be the top country, with 59% (41,3M users) of the active population appreciating this type of content. The UK has the most profitable digital video services market: €4,2B in 2021 and €5,7B in 2026 (62% will come through subscriptions). At some distance, Germany will follow with a volume of €5B in the coming five years. It is estimated that the entire European market will reach €30.6B in that period.

Video games will register the highest growth

According to Telecoming’s research, 62% of Europeans will enjoy mobile games in 2026 (+9 points vs 2021). Germany led the ranking with 49.8M users last year, followed by the UK (44.8M). Both countries will add followers in the coming years (+14 M in Germany and +11.4 in the UK). European mobile gamers played almost 2B games in 2021.

The evolution of the mobile gaming market will be an unprecedented growth.  €15,6B generated in 2021 will become €68,6B in 2026. This growth will go hand in hand with the consolidation of the metaverse, the next big thing where the leading technology industry players are already investing.

9 out of 10 Europeans pay for digital music services. However, the UK is the largest market (€16B in 2026). 18% of Britons accessed a digital music service in 2021. This percentage will increase to 22% in 2026. 97% of these will also subscribe to a digital music service and pay €10.8 per subscription (average). This is also a general trend in Europe. In 2026, 98% of users will subscribe to at least one music service.

 

Telecoming is an international company specialized in digital services monetization technologies. It deploys solutions aimed at improving mobile payment processes and advertising technology. A scalable, flexible, and secure platform seamlessly integrates revenue generation tools for companies operating in the digital environment. Leader on the economics of digital content since 2008, Telecoming currently operates in 21 countries.

SLA Digital Announce Partnership with Unitel to Launch Direct Carrier Billing in Mongolia

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

SLA Digital and Unitel logos showing the partnership of the two companies

SLA Digital have announced a new partnership with Unitel Group, a Mongolian telecommunications company, with Unitel naming SLA Digital as their managed service provider for carrier billing.

As part of the relationship, SLA Digital will also be able to offer digital content providers access to Unitel’s other payment options including IPTV payments, Toki E-Wallet and payments made via U-Point, their points based loyalty program.

Kevin Drayne, CEO at SLA Digital commented: “We are delighted to be working with Unitel to enable seamless and secure payment experiences for their customers through carrier billing. We see this relationship as a real opportunity to bring more to Unitel and their customers, by offering a vast range of digital content and entertainment with new convenient ways to pay.”

 The partnership means Unitel will be able to effortlessly introduce new digital content to customers from SLA Digital’s expanding client portfolio. Likewise, digital content providers can connect to Unitel’s mobile subscribers, and expand into this region, through a simple integration process.

 Kevin continued: “Our direct connection with Unitel Mongolia will allow our existing and new digital content partners to easily connect to the mobile operator and make the most of all the payment options available. We hope that more content and more ways to pay will lead to greater choice and satisfaction for Unitel customers.”

 SLA Digital are inviting digital content providers who would like to connect with Unitel Mongolia to get in touch at sla-digital.com/contact

Evina raises 20 million euros to secure financial services for telecom operators

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

 

Paris, November 18, 2021 – Paris-based cybersecurity company Evina, which operates in 70 countries, has announced a €20 million funding round to consolidate its leading position in securing financial services for telecom operators.

The future of telecom operators will not be determined by the sales strategy of cell phone plans, but by the ability to provide new services to the huge customer bases they have patiently built up. Among these, financial services are the most crucial.

The financial services offered by telecom operators today not only offer the possibility to buy digital content, mobile applications or subscriptions to major streaming platforms directly via their SIM card, but also to receive, withdraw and transfer money. The aim is both to offer a highly efficient one-click payment method with conversion rates 100 times higher than those of a bank card, and to replace and compensate for the absence of basic banking services. Especially at a time when there are more smartphones than people on earth, and 2 billion people do not have a bank account.

Today, nearly 20% of global digital content purchases go through operators. By 2021, this will be worth more than $40 billion, with double-digit annual growth. In addition, more than $2.5 trillion is flowing through operators’ e-wallets. This amount is expected to double within 5 years.

The financial services offered by operators are so successful that they have inevitably attracted organized crime from around the world. “All the criminal organizations in the world are converging on cybercrime,” warns Guillaume Poupard, the Director General of the French National Agency for Information Systems Security.

It is to face this challenge that Evina was founded in 2018 by a team of hackers, cybersecurity researchers and financial services specialists who have worked for more than 15 years in the sector they protect.

More than $1 billion saved in the last 12 months by Evina for ecosystem players

David Lotfi, CEO and founder of Evina explains how it all started: “We realized that no one knew how to stop this new generation of cybercriminals, who are extremely professional and have much more advanced technical and financial resources than before. We saw this as a major threat and decided to develop a dedicated solution. Very quickly, the largest operators around the world asked to implement our solutions.”

Evina is now present in over 70 countries. It protects the world’s largest telecom groups such as Orange and Vodacom, but also major digital merchants for whom control of operator payment is a strategic advantage. With a detection rate of 99.94% of false transactions and a false positive rate of less than 0.06%, Evina has prevented the theft of more than 1 billion euros over the last 12 months.

In recognition of its solution, Evina has received all the industry’s leading awards over the past two years, including the Global Carrier Billing Summit award for the best anti-fraud solution in 2020 and 2021 and the Juniper Award for the best financial transaction security solution in 2021.

Confidence in Evina and in the industry’s potential from US funds and historical investors

The €20 million fundraising will allow Evina to accelerate its commercial presence outside Europe, with the opening of offices abroad, and to strengthen its technical team with new talent, in order to consolidate its position as a leader in the world of financial services for telecom operators.

The round was led by New York-based Radian Capital with the support of Evina’s historical investors including 50 partners, Saas Partners and Id4VC.

“Telecom Operators are in a very strong position to offer the next generation of financial service products. And while they currently possess much of what they need – embedded customer base, access to phones, known identities, financial performance, and bank account credentials – these operators still lack the security capabilities necessary to fight the most sophisticated fraud attempts. This is why we are so excited to back the team at Evina. They bring ‘bank security’ capabilities to these Telcos that allows them to operate in 2021 and beyond.” enthused Jordan Bettman, founder of Radian Capital.

Learn more about Evina at: https://www.evina.com/

Noor Play make paying in the Middle East easy with SLA Digital’s Carrier Billing Solutions

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Video-on-demand streaming service Noor Play has connected with SLA Digital to offer Zain Kuwait customers easy access to multi-platform content through simple carrier billing payments.

Noor Play is a subscription service that offers a wide variety of TV shows, movies and more with ad-free content carefully picked and edited to suit all members of the family. With SLA Digital’s help Noor Play are expanding their reach in the Middle East by offering accessible-to-all payments via customers’ mobile phone bills or prepaid credit.

Ahmad Al-Qarawi, CEO at Noor Play commented: “Carrier billing is ideal for customers in the Middle East as it is a very accessible way to pay in this market. We want our subscribers to have a seamless viewing experience so it is important to make payments as convenient as possible – by partnering with SLA Digital we have been able to achieve just that.”

Kevin Drayne, CEO at SLA Digital said: “Noor Play is a fantastic entertainment service and we can see it being hugely popular with customers of Zain Kuwait, not to mention our other mobile operator clients. Expanding our partnerships with digital merchants and bringing new services on board is a key focus for us and we are delighted to connect with Noor Play to offer them opportunities to acquire more customers through carrier billing.”

Mobile operators interested in discussing opportunities to connect with Noor Play through carrier billing should contact the team at SLA Digital directly.

Direct Carrier Billing Index reveals the most favourable countries for DCB growth in the MEA region

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

The first DCB Index developed by Evina and Telecoming is released today

  • Bahrain, Egypt, and Qatar are the most attractive markets for DCB, leading the index
  • The innovative tool measures the maturity of this mobile payment method in 18 countries
  • The development of the DCB Index is one of the commitments established in the alliance signed earlier this year by both companies

Analysts from Evina, experts in DCB protection, and Telecoming, experts in DCB implementation, have developed the first Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) Index. This rating aims to provide market players with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the DCB business and its overall potential.

Bahrain, Egypt, and Qatar lead the list according to the results of the first DCB Index created to measure the development of this market in MEA. The innovative tool[1] uses 4 KPIs focused on Fraud Protection, Mobile Payments Innovation, DCB Penetration levels, and DCB Growth Potential.

As a result, the DCB Index establishes a ranking based on the score achieved by each country. It is presented on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 as the lowest indicator and 5 being the most advanced pointer.

Download the full DCB Index here: https://www.evina.com/resources/dcb-index-evina-telecoming/

According to the analysis, Bahrain (3,7) stands out for its extensive DCB protection against fraud. The country shows full support for DCB, seeing that all local mobile operators have implemented this payment technology, yet innovation remains a weak point to develop.

Local mobile operators and merchants are working together to promote DCB as an effective payment method in Egypt (3,3). It’s a true breeding ground for the development of DCB, and efforts must continue to strengthen DCB protection to realize its full potential. Forward-thinking MNOs have enabled in-app purchases in Qatar (3,2). Its overall innovative approach to mobile payments, such as paying employees via mobile money, demonstrates the country’s predisposition to implement new uses of DCB.

According to the index, mobile payment partnerships centred around DCB are growing in Kenya, while Morocco shows ample room for growth in DCB Innovation.

South Africa has a high DCB uptake but has had to deal with fraudulent mobile payment attempts. Hence, increased protection is vital for the sustainable development of DCB as an easy and reliable payment method in the region.

According to Roberto Monge, COO of Telecoming, “DCB has been gaining presence in the region’s digital economy. This innovative indicator shows that many countries are on the right track. Technology is already in place, but there are still some challenges to face. All the payments tech industry players need to work together to develop a new, reliable, secure and stable mobile economy that benefits the whole market “, says Monge.

David Lotfi, Founder & CEO of Evina, states, “the DCB Index indicates that fraud on DCB remains as a top barrier to countries maximizing the potential of direct carrier billing.” Lotfi adds, “these findings strongly suggest that anti-fraud measures need to be more extensively and consistently implemented so that DCB becomes not only a widely used effortless payment method but a source of greater revenue for mobile players.”

 

[1] The figures provided are algorithmic-based estimations calculated from Evina sensors and Telecoming intelligence data. The DCB Index is intended for information purposes only.