Businesses should pick up the tab for mobile services

mBlox founder wants businesses to stop charging for mobile shopping

Businesses should foot the bill for services delivered via mobile, rather than charging their customers, according to a mobile transaction specialist.

Andrew Bud, founder of mobile transaction network mBlox, spoke at yesterday's Westminster eForum Smartphones, Tablets and Apps event, and called for businesses to stop charging consumers for doing business with them via their mobile phones.

"Mobile operators need to support the mobile internet sector and correct some of the strange things that have crept in in the first 10 years of its existence," said Bud.

"It is, in my view, inevitable that the mobile networks should and must charge the providers of content and service for the use of their network to use mobile services," he added.

He cited the example of transport provider Arriva, which uses a service provided by mBlox called Sender-Pays Data, to deliver mobile tickets to consumers with no data charge to the consumer.

"Arriva is providing the ultimate service to its consumers by picking up that tab," added Bud.

Bud said that Sender-Pays Data enables businesses to provide content to consumers with the guarantee that they will not incur any data costs for downloading to a mobile phone.

He added that, using the service, the sender pays for the data transfer, providing a true 'zero data charge' for the consumer.