Juniper Research: Mobile Operators to Benefit from $100 Billion Direct Carrier Billing Spend by 2025, Driven by Digital Subscription Services

A new study from Juniper Research has found that total spend over direct carrier billing will reach $100 billion for the first time by 2025; rising from $37 billion in 2020. The study anticipates that the increasing shift to subscription-based monetisation models for digital services such as games, video streaming and music, will be key to the market realising a substantial growth rate of 172% over the next 5 years.

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Digital Content to Represent 87% of Carrier Billing Spend by 2025

The new study, Direct Carrier Billing: Market Outlook, Emerging Opportunities & Forecasts 2020-2025, argued that convenience of combining monthly subscription costs into a user’s monthly cellular subscription will be a key growth driver for carrier billing over the next 5 years. The report recommends carrier billing vendors should focus on expanding their partnerships with digital service providers; enabling consumers to pay via carrier billing, capitalising on the growing trend of monetisation via subscription.

Research co-author Sam Barker remarked, “‘We identified digital gaming subscription services as an immediate opportunity for carrier billing vendors. Partnering with services such as Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadia will allow operators to swiftly increase their carrier billing offering by supporting payments for highly sought after services.”

Carrier Billing to Handle $9 Billion of Spend on Physical Goods by 2025

Whilst carrier billing spend on physical goods is established in the Far East, the study identified emerging opportunities for carrier billing vendors in North America. The research highlighted high smartphone penetration and accessibility of same-day delivery services as key driving forces behind a growth to $600 billion of end-user spend on physical goods over carrier billing by 2025.

However, the research warns that vendors will need to re-evaluate their monetisation models to compete with established payment methods, such as credit card and digital wallets. To make carrier billing a more appealing payment method, the study urges these players to reduce their charge rates and align themselves with established payment methods.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector; providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

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