Carrier billing outfit Boku has unveiled what it claims is the world's largest mobile payments network, reaching 5.7 billion payment accounts in 90 countries.
The network, M1ST, promises to simplify the fragmented mobile payment acceptance market, bringing together more than 330 methods, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time payments schemes into a single, scheme-like network.
Boku says that M1ST-enabled payments are built to support the 0-tap subscriptions and 1-tap checkout transactions that enable new, online business models.
Meanwhile, merchants get a single, global settlement, eliminating the complexity of local taxes, foreign exchange, and cash repatriation. Finally, through payment licenses and local entities, M1ST is capable of accepting regulated payments in nearly 50 countries.
Jon Prideaux, CEO, Boku, says: “For merchants to capitalise on the massive potential of mobile-first consumers, they need to accept the payment methods they have and prefer, which are increasingly behind glass screens, not rectangular pieces of plastic.
"We’ve spent the past decade delivering new customers to our merchants through mobile payments. Now that mobile payments have overtaken credit cards globally, merchant acceptance has moved from a competitive advantage to a strategic imperative.”