This is a great question – one that was asked at a recent EE Transport event at the BT Tower. At that event Kimm Mattila – CEO at PlusDial had just done a presentation about how they had issued and sold 330 million bus tickets using premium SMS in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy & Belgium.
Naomi Maggs had just presented how Carrier Billing had been an incredible successful payment mechanism for over 20 years.
In the UK however nothing? The answer is about focus. The market is proven as PlusDial has shown.
The recent GSMA report, The State of the Industry, highlights that the Mobile Money market was now worth $1,000,000,000,000 – one trillion dollars.
In the UK the market is lead by Payment Intermediaries and there are only four. They have had the luxury of selling and providing this mechanic to companies providing digital services and products – who understand the simplicity, ease of use and high conversion afforded by Carrier Billing. For these companies its just which Payment Intermediary is used.
Transport, Ticketing, Parking and EV is different. The needs and requirements of an industry using old legacy systems requires a focused approach.
This is why Debit My Mobile (DMM) was formed, with the remit of educating the market, influencing policy development, developing relevant products and services, supporting with compliance and regulation, providing case studies and giving integration support for businesses that are looking to leverage mobile payments in the transport, ticketing and EV market.
Moreover, to ensure that we have specialists from the Industry, that understand the unique requirements of this sector.
Then there is also timing. The pandemic accelerated use of contactless technologies. We have seen the rapid decline of cash and increased focus on environment and sustainability, as well as witnessing the continued growth and growing important of the mobile channel.
All this at a time when with increased fuel cost and climate change there is a real imperative to get car drivers to use the multi-modal options that are being developed.
