Direct carrier biller PaymentOne is getting on the Telefónica bandwagon. The company announced today it has entered into a direct carrier billing relationship with Telefónica Germany, a unit of global telecom giant Telefónica SA.

Telefónica announced earlier this week its global developer program BlueVia has selected BOKU to provide developers with access to direct carrier billing services.

"PaymentOne is an established market leader in carrier billing with the financial stability and the broad product spectrum we look for in a payment partner," said Robert Erdmann, manager direct-to-bill and enabling services, Telefónica Germany, in a statement.

According to PaymentOne's announcement, digital merchants can now give Telefónica Germany subscribers the option to put charges up to €30 (about USD $40) directly onto their mobile phone bills. The partnership enables one time transactions, recurring subscriptions, in-app billing and Web billing.

"PaymentOne's agreement with Telefónica Germany further expands our direct international footprint and provides the broadest global reach and best payout rates to our merchants," said Brad Singer, executive vice president of PaymentOne.

"PaymentOne says 'put your wallet away and use your phone number to pay,' bringing the speed, security and convenience of mobile payments to the millions of Telefónica Germany subscribers," Singer said.

PaymentOne said its carrier billing services are now available to merchants in more than 70 countries through relationships with 1200 telecom operators that cover more than 3.4 billion consumers.

For more stories like this visit our Carrier/Card Scheme research center.