5 key takeaways from the Global Carrier Billing Summit 2019

On the 9^th and 10^th of October, we attended this year’s Global Carrier Billing Summit to delve deeper into the minds of the industry’s thought-leaders and speakers.

The event covered a variety of topics such as; the evolution of carrier billing and identifying future opportunities, including 5G Cloud Gaming and RCS.

We have rounded up our top 5 key learnings below.

1. The carrier billing market is growing

During his talk at the Global Carrier Billing Summit, Guillermo Escofet, Principal Analyst from Ovum stated that by 2023 the carrier billing industry will be worth approximately $70.3 Billion. The Asia Pacific region will be responsible for the majority of carrier billing revenues with Japan and South Korea accounting for 50% of APAC revenues. Key drivers for growth through to 2023 will be:

• Verticals like micro-insurance and health will increasingly be monetized with carrier billing
• OTT players like Netflix and Spotify will continue to deploy carrier billing for user acquisition and to increase their total addressable market (TAM).
• Carrier billing revenues from video on demand (VOD) will continue to grow as mobile operators and VOD providers partner to provide end-users with bundling deals
• Gaming continues to be the dominant revenue generating segment in carrier billing which is being driven by app store billing. Ovum predict that 5G cloud gaming will be a major driver of carrier billing revenues in the future
• 5G will also boost the growth of live sports streaming, creating new opportunities which can be monetized through carrier billing
• In APAC, physical goods will be increasingly purchased via carrier billing, whilst in Europe, app store payments and bundling will continue to grow

2. 5G and Cloud Gaming – an opportunity for carrier billing

Global gaming market revenues are expected to exceed $525 Billion by 2023. As mentioned, the introduction of 5G cloud gaming is set to be a major contributor to the growth of mobile gaming revenues and the below figures support this.

• Mobile gaming on smartphones & tablets produces global revenues of $68.5 Billion, 45% of the global games market
• Mobile gaming in the Asia Pacific region will generate $72.2 Billion in 2019, which is rising by 7.65% year on year
• Globally, by 2025, it is estimated that there will be 203 Million 5G connections (29% of the population)

As users get ever-quicker gaming experiences, so too will they demand more seamless ways to buy from and subscribe to games, presenting an opportunity for carrier billing to become a key payment method in 5G and cloud gaming.

3. RCS and the potential of conversational commerce for carrier billing

Rich Communicational Services (RCS) and the potential of conversational commerce were mentioned throughout the event as a contributor that will impact carrier billing into the future. RCS is a multimedia evolution of traditional SMS. It presents a huge opportunity for mobile operators to complete the user journey, enabling rich communications like videos and images to be sent to customers.

• Carrier billing can be integrated as a payment option for RCS to complete the user journey and give convenience and ease of payments to customers
• RCS will evolve existing SMS functionality on mobile devices into an engaging and interactive channel exceeding the functionality of WhatsApp, combined with the richness of an app
• Mobilesquared research data has revealed that nearly 50% of mobile users would be active RCS users and already interact and engage with a brand with around 6% of RCS interactions being transactional

4. Carrier billing fraud 

Fraud in carrier billing was also highlighted during the summit and feedback from fraud experts concluded that fraud can be combated by:

• Fraud prevention programmes
• All members of the value chain working together (merchant – aggregator – mobile operator)

5. The future of carrier billing

During the summit, thought leaders identified near future opportunities within the industry to be in:

• Ticketing – events, transport etc
• Insurance – mainly micro insurance as legislation may make this vertical difficult
• Vending machines
• Transport – tolls, car parking etc
• Online newspapers and e-publications
• Pay per view – live sports events
• TV media space
• Mobile identity

To discuss carrier billing as a mobile payment option, get in touch with SLA Digital today.