Bango announced in a press release earlier this week that since the beginning of the year it has enabled direct carrier billing capabilities for mobile app store partners with Saudi Telecom and Mobily in Saudi Arabia, Mobinil in Egypt, Telkom in South Africa, Telefónica in Mexico and Telenor in Hungary.

Bango provides direct carrier billing for Google Play, Windows Phone Store, Facebook, Firefox Marketplace and BlackBerry World, and an agreement with Amazon has also been announced, according to the press release.

Bango said in the announcement it has developed a strong presence in the Middle East, where — despite high levels of credit card ownership — cards are not widely used for online payments. Bango claims it is similarly strong in Asia where Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia are already highly active direct carrier billing markets for Bango’s app store partners. New Asian markets range from Taiwan to Vietnam. Bango said it is also developing coverage across Latin America, including in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela, in addition to Mexico. 

"These markets represent the new digital economies, built on their runaway growth in smartphone usage," Richard Leyland, VP of marketing communications at Bango, said in a press release. "While there has been limited payment for digital goods through SMS in the past, for most operators in these markets, Bango's app store partnerships are the first time true direct operator billing has become available. The result is that consumers experience the higher user experience standard established by leading app stores, which includes the quality and depth of content, the discovery experience, getting the content onto the device and, of course, the purchasing experience."