Direct carrier billing
Revised 2026-10-01 · 0 sources
About
Direct carrier billing (DCB), or pay by phone bill, charges an online purchase to the buyer's mobile account: the amount is added to a postpaid bill or deducted from prepaid airtime. The buyer's phone number is identified automatically over a 3G/4G connection, or the purchase is confirmed with a PIN sent by SMS, with permitted flows varying by country and operator. It is used mainly for games, streaming and subscriptions. Many merchants reach operators through aggregators that handle processing and settlement, such as Boku, which agreed to buy Fortumo in 2020, and Bango, which bought DOCOMO Digital in 2022. In the UK, spending is capped at £40 per transaction and £240 a month.
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