Valista's payments software and managed services enable mobile operators to provide off-deck payments mediation providing routing, transaction management and authorization, account management, partner and and customer care services. By opening up their networks to third parties, operators can offer a wide range of services to their customers which can drive data usage and associated revenues whilst keeping the payment relationship with the customer and allows the customer the convenience of being able to charge items to their bill.

ValistaPlus Payments is the first payments solution to support any type of mobile, Internet and broadcast content services with existing and emerging payment options including the following:

• direct-to-bill
• premium SMS
• credit/debit cards
• person-to-person (P2P) payments
• utility bill payments
• stored value
• loyalty programs
• electronic vouchers

It is the only solution that enables multiple payment options to be combined in a single transaction, while enabling funds to be distributed in real-time among multiple recipients involved in the transaction. For example, funds can be shared with intended recipients while also paying the service provider’s transaction charges in real-time.

Direct-to-bill charging, sometimes referred to as WAP billing, provides third parties with a transaction oriented, real time interface to an operator’s billing infrastructure. These interfaces are similar to those found in other financial networks and implement a two phase process for authorization, reservation, confirmation and clearance of funds. In addition this process provides support for post purchase operations such as refunds and allows for end-to-end visibility of transactions with significantly reduced revenue leakage as correlation can be retained between the external transactions and the billing transaction. Allowing for real time authorization based on up-to-the-minute funds availability coupled with the non-repudiation provided by greater transparency, reduces the instances of disputes and associated refunds. In the event of a dispute, then end-to-end traceability for each transaction allows the associated refund administration charges to be passed back to the content provider (or the party contractually obliged to carry this cost). The ability to provide automated management of disputes significantly reduces the involvement and cost of customer care without exposing additional risks such as those associated with automated refund systems.

Easy-to-use self-care applications reduce customer and partner care costs. Consumers manage their own profile, preferences and balances. Partners manage their own profiles, transaction histories, consumer disputes and review reconciliation and financial reports. Valista also enables Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) to act on behalf of consumers on all issues, but also provides functionality to issue chargebacks and refunds, suspend and terminate users and their payment instruments.

A key challenge for broadband and cable operators is to automate the digital commerce process and mange multiple partner relationships effectively and meet time-to-market demands. They must integrate to a wide range of external systems for provisioning and access control. They need to enable third party charging to increase the range of services they can offer beyond their own portal. ValistaPlus Payments enables this open model where the customers can buy from a third party and the broadband operator keeps a share of the payment for the introduction, the billing process and in some cases improved network connectivity.

Off-deck sales already dominate European mobile commerce - reaching 60-70% of total revenues - and North America is rapidly catching up. Content aggregators increasingly serve as off-deck clearing houses enabling content providers to work with multiple operators, and delivering global content to local operators. Mobile operators need to enable off-deck payments processing providing routing, transaction management and authorization, account management, merchant and customer services. By opening up their networks to third parties, mobile operators can offer a wide range of services to their customers which can drive data usage and associated revenues and allows the customer the convenience of being able to charge items to their bill. In addition, a key challenge for mobile operators is to automate the digital commerce process and mange multiple partner relationships effectively and meet time-to-market demands. Today, a significant amount of settlement is calculated manually. As merchandizing models get ever more complex, and with the emergence of advertising sponsored content and services, the need to automate the settlement process is becoming ever more critical.

Global brands, media owners and producers, games vendors and content providers worldwide need to reinforce their brand with differentiated merchandizing tools, including bundling, subscriptions, discounting, promotions and loyalty programs. Games vendors, for example are looking to move a way from the current model of selling a games on a license basis to an online, subscription model where they can gain a much larger and more consistent revenue stream. In addition, the games publishers are increasingly looking at ways to extract additional revenues from players through in-game payment and incentive mechanisms. There may also be revenue generated from advertising partners who place in-game ads. Fanatical players will be able to buy, or earn, in-game currency which may be used to purchase upgrades such as additional levels, power ups or new in-game equipment in one or more online games.

A key opportunity for broadband operators lies in the merchandizing and sale of digital goods and services. To succeed in the new digital commerce market, operators must expand revenue opportunities by building an appealing catalog of value added services to drive consumer purchase. They need to be able to incentivize customers to buy more premium content and services with special offers including free trials, bundles, subscriptions, promotions, discounting and loyalty programs. Examples of such offers include user created bundles where a user can choose up to five channels for €20 per month or discounts such as watch three movies a month and get the fourth at a discount.

Another key opportunity for broadband providers is in the area of IPTV. Broadband providers are moving towards a multi-offering market such as triple or quad play. One of the key elements of this is TV and movie content. The technology behind this is called IPTV which will enable the creation of highly personalized channels which allow for an infinite number of possibilities in terms of combinations of programming. This will make highly targeted advertising possible and will drive ad revenues for IPTV network operators. Some TV companies will also sell advertising and split the revenue with the operator.