Amdocs, better known for providing billing and operations support to major wireless carriers, announced a new mobile payment gateway for mobile operators. The company has launched its new Amdocs Mobile Payments solution, saying the new solution is a cloud-based gateway that gives mobile network operators the ability to scale their mobile payments business for both prepaid and postpaid customers.  

Amdocs new solution handles the payment processing for MNOs so they can offer subscribers the ability to pay for both digital and physical goods either by charging purchases directly to their mobile phone bill, prepaid balance or even evolving mobile wallet products.

Direct carrier billing is an increasingly important option for consumers who purchase digital content like games or social media credits.

"Today's shopping experience is increasingly mobile, and consumers prefer the convenience of mobile payments settled on a carrier bill rather than disclosing their credit card details to unknown retailers," said Brian Shepherd, Amdocs division president.

"Mobile payments using prepaid balance are often the most attractive payment option for young and unbanked consumers who want to participate in the digital economy," Shepherd said.

According to Shepherd, MNOs are uniquely positioned to take advantage of their billing relationships with their consumers to enable them to do more in the connected world.

Since Amdocs already manages the billing relationships for customers of MNOs like AT&T and Sprint, offering a mobile payment gateway is a good fit. The company said it processes more than 250 million mobile payment transactions a year, totaling more than $2 billion in mobile payment revenues.

Amdocs said some of the benefits available to mobile network operators through Amdocs Mobile Payments include:

• Fast time to market – the solution is already integrated with Google's Android Market and supports other app stores like Microsoft Marketplace, BlackBerry AppWorld and Amazon. It's also integrated with content providers, gaming and virtual credits companies, and payment aggregators.
• Broad functional capabilities – As mobile payments evolves, new use cases, features and technologies are added dynamically.
• Scalability, flexibility and automation – simple partner onboarding process, broader payment options, and automated settlement of accounts.

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