The term direct carrier billing denotes a payment method used to pay for purchases using a phone number. When you pay for a purchase using carrier billing, the purchase is charged to your telecom services provider. The telecom services provider then passes the charge on to you by including it in your phone bill or deducting it from your prepaid credits. In this way, direct carrier billing can be used much like a credit card or prepaid card.
Direct carrier billing services may be offered directly by a mobile service provider, or they may be provided by a third-party financial services provider. Examples of direct carrier billing services provided directly by mobile service providers include the NATEL Pay and Easypay services offered by Swisscom.
Direct carrier billing services formerly made use of SMS messaging to perform or confirm transactions. Increasingly, direct carrier billing makes use of the Internet. Many online merchants and in-app purchases now provide direct carrier billing as a payment option.
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