DIMOCO Says Germany's Ripe for Direct Carrier Billing

BRUNN AM GEBIRGE, Austria — DIMOCO has published its fifth European country white paper on direct carrier billing, this time targeting Germany.

The company said that with 115.2 million mobile subscribers, a mobile handset penetration of 119.9 percent in comparison with 35.7 percent credit card ownership, and the growing digital industry, Germany shows enormous potential for billing digital content via direct carrier billing.

According to DIMOCO, the digital content market is expected to grow tremendously in the next years, according to the Price Waterhouse Coopers' “Entertainment and Media Outlook 2014 – 2018” publication. The e-publishing segment, the area with the biggest growth, will grow from $655 million in 2012 to $2.287 million revenue in 2017. The home video market is set to grow from $162 million revenue in 2012 to $674 million in 2017, and the e-music market from $387 million in 2012 to $620 million in revenue in 2017. Another huge market is the e-games segment. The revenue growth rate shows an increase from $889 million in 2012 to $1.589 million in 2017.

“Direct carrier billing is an additional payment method to credit card billing and gives digital content providers the chance to maximize revenues and to reach their entire target group,” CEO Gerald Tauchner said. “The sales potential in big economies like Germany is tremendous, as this study by Price Waterhouse Coopers confirms.”

Germany shows huge potential in billing digital content via direct carrier billing. According to the white paper on direct carrier billing in Europe, published by DIMOCO in collaboration with market research partner Juniper Research, conversion rates up to 70 percent at the first transaction and 60 percent at the second transaction can be achieved with direct carrier billing.

The mobile market in Germany represents 115.2 million mobile subscribers shared among the four big German mobile network operators: Telefonica Germany (O2 Brand, 16.6 percent market share), E-Plus Group (21.9 percent), Telekom Germany (33.7 percent) and Vodafone (27.8 percent). A worldwide trend shows that the smartphone penetration rate is also increasing in Germany and is currently at 33.9 percent compared to 66.1 percent of the legacy handsets available on the market.

DIMOCO said it offers companies a variety of mobile payment products. Depending on the business customers’ needs and the mobile network operators’ capabilities, digital content on the web can be billed as one-off or subscription service between a tariff range of 0.19 and 30 euros at Vodafone, Telekom, E-Plus, O2, and the virtual mobile network operator Mobilcom Debitel.

“We provide the technical hub between all the mobile network operators on the one hand and the business customers on the other hand. The main advantage for digital content providers is that they only need to integrate one connection and technical interface into their infrastructure,” explained Tauchner.

To view the Direct Carrier Billing Market Special Germany infographic, click here.