Facebook Payments Arm Gaining Access to Nearly 1.2 Billion Users

Facebook today announced that it is working with nine mobile phone carriers on a streamlined payments system through its Pay Dialog platform.

Pay Dialog facilitates mobile payments through Facebook.

In all the nine companies — AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, Vodafone, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile Corp. — have 1.19 billion mobile customers. (For those of you keeping score at home,Vodafone is tops with 398.1 million mobile customers.) The companies could give Facebook a massive entry point into mobile payments.

Specifically, Facebook said today that it is working with the operators “to minimize the number of steps needed to complete a transaction in mobile web apps, which will make it easier for hundreds of millions of people worldwide to purchase apps on their device via operator billing.” Added Facebook, “our hope is that these initiatives — the Open Graph, the Core Mobile Web Platform Community Group at the W3C, and our partnerships with carriers to improve mobile payments — will enable developers all over the world to build mobile experiences that improve the lives of billions of people.”

Facebook now has 425 million users.

The streamlined billing with the nine operators will likely make it easier for Facebook to offer paid content, even beyond in-game credits.

The take from TechCrunch:

This looks like it may be the fruit of the Bango relationship that was announced earlier this month. It also builds on some mobile payments services that Facebook already offers: it works with Boku and Zong to let users make payments for Facebook Credits using their mobile devices — however these are for Credits that are redeemed on desktop apps. Integrating with carriers directly puts Facebook’s mobile activities even closer to the point of sale.

Clearly, Facebook is focusing more on its mobile business, to the point where Facebook CTO Brett Taylor said today, “We think of mobile as the most natural vision of Facebook. It is what Mark Zuckerberg would have made eight years ago if the technology was available at the time.” 

The revenue driver: payments.

CARRIERS — # OF MOBILE CUSTOMERS*

AT&T — 103.2

Deutsche Telekom — 95.7

Orange — 167.0

Telefonica — 238.8

T-Mobile USA — 33.2

Verizon Wireless — 87.4

Vodafone — 398.1

KDDI — 35.0

Softbank Mobile — 28.1

TOTAL — 1,186.5

Source: Bank Innovation

*In millions

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