OpenMarket highlights support for new industry-wide mobile billing standard Payforit 4

    Tried-and-tested OpenMarket solutions ready to go for easy, secure integration by merchants

    Operator mandates starting from September 1st

23 August 2012, London, UK – Digital merchants in the UK who use mobile billing to charge for goods and services must take steps now to be fully prepared for when Payforit 4 becomes the UK standard for internet-discovered mobile payments, according to mobile messaging and payment solutions provider OpenMarket. The mobile payment market includes a number of different methods, including Premium SMS, direct mobile billing and mobile web payments (WAP). Operators in the UK will begin to mandate Payforit 4 as the industry-standard for mobile payments from September 1st.

“Payforit 4 is the UK mobile micro payment scheme that enables consumers to use their mobile phone account to transact securely and safely when purchasing content and services on the internet. It allows merchants, content providers and developers to monetise their products and services to the entire UK consumer market via the mobile channel,” said Adrian Sarosi, OpenMarket’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “Merchants must act now to assure the future of any existing services as the mandates come in to place.”

“As a fully authorised Accredited Payment Intermediary (API) for Payforit and contributory member of industry association AIME, who is helping develop the Payforit framework, OpenMarket has the resources, expertise and scalability in place to support the unique needs of all merchants using mobile payments,” Sarosi continued. “OpenMarket has refreshed its industry-leading platform to the new mandates and is ideally placed to help merchants assess and update their mobile commerce offerings.”

Payforit enables consumers to pay for online products and services on their mobile device and charge the payment back to their mobile bill. Consumers who use Payforit 4 do not need a credit card or bank account, or need to pre-register for the service. Payforit 4 is available for consumers to use for both pre- and post-paid mobile accounts.

“With Payforit 4, consumers and merchants alike in the UK get to benefit from swift, secure, and easy-to-use mobile payments across a wide choice of smart devices, feature phones and other web-connected devices,” said Danny Barclay, Head of Interactive Sales at O2. “We believe that as digital merchants transition we will see an uptake in Payforit services as consumers warm to the better experience.”

New features in Payforit 4 include support for non-cellular wireless connectivity such as Wi-Fi; plus a consistent, secure, and easy-to-navigate payment flow across multiple handset and device types, including tablets. Payforit 4 also includes single-click purchasing for easy repeat billing: and an embedded version for merchants to integrate it into their website or browser-based mobile app.

To check if an existing service may be affected by Payforit 4, please text PFI4 to 88600. To learn more about OpenMarket’s range of Payforit 4- solutions, please visit http://www.openmarket.com/payments/mobile-web-checkout/uk-payforit/