Planet3 is a new mobile payment player.
The upheavals of October will be remembered by many owners of Internet projects. Someone lost $ 100, someone $ 10,000. Leaving a player like Russian Billing from the arena could not go unnoticed. And now, after the A1 aggregator structure entered the market , which assumed obligations to pay the due compensation to the Russian Billing partners, another major player in the mVAS market, i-Free, is preparing to announce the opening of Planet3 , which, according to its The organizers will become not only an independent player in the mobile payments market, but also plans to expand the billing service with new tools, including iVR . I was able to communicate with the future head of Planet3 in an informal setting, and the result was a rather lengthy interview-conversation not only about the new company, but also about what awaits mobile billing in the near future. Before the official press release, I cannot name the name of my interlocutor, but I am sure that today and tomorrow there will be an official press release in which the name will sound. Foreshadowing questions about “is he not afraid,” I can only say that he has been given quite broad powers, one might say, carte blanche. So read and judge for yourself.
Ivan Khrustalev: It’s probably worth starting from the main point. Today, tomorrow, as I know, i-Free will announce the creation of Planet3, which will operate in the mobile payment market. Can you confirm this?
Interlocutor: The direction, which within the framework of i-Free has long been established as an independent line of business, is set free. It will work under its own brand, with its team, will build its relations with both strategic partners and customers, but will not be tied to the i-Free brand.
I.Kh .: Does this announcement follow too quickly? After all, just last week, another major market player announced a similar initiative. What is the reason for such a rush?
S .: i-Free has always been one of the largest players in this market, and at the beginning of the year we decided to create Planet3. But, of course, I will not deny the current situation on the market did not affect the acceleration of the opening of the company.
')
I.Kh .: How will Planet3 differ from its colleagues in the market?
S .: According to our data, there are no similar companies at the moment. Most large players have subsidiaries, but they are just separate divisions. Planet3 will differ in that it will allow to cooperate and build long-term relations not only with i-Free, but also with other large aggregators. And due to this, we are going to ensure 100% reliability of our work and guarantee partners timely receipt of funds.
The company is entering the market not only with the support of i-Free: we have concluded strategic cooperation agreements with IncorMedia and Neva Line . These companies have significant technical and financial resources and will fulfill the role of aggregation partners for us. But, of course, Planet3 is open for cooperation with other market players.
I.Kh .: Can you tell in more detail what role i-Free plays in the new company and, most importantly, what will happen with the existing i-Free Partners partners ?
C .: i-Free is 100% owner of Planet3 and will play the role of a strategic partner for it, primarily in the field of aggregation. As for existing partners, we can expect changes in working conditions, but more on this later. Now I can only say that the changes will be aimed primarily at supporting partners, and not “tightening the screws”.
I.Kh .: But it turns out that Planet3 is only an intermediary between i-Free and partners, or not?
S .: No, it is not. For i-Free, there will be only a guarantee of payments and service SMS numbers, that is, aggregation. The entire service component, the whole team, all technical specialists will be concentrated in Planet3.
I.Kh .: How do you think, what is the reason for the crisis in the mobile payments market?
S: Some of the companies that have taken an aggressive stance on the market are now experiencing a systemic crisis. It was, in general, easy to predict for a long time and it is primarily associated with those commercial models that were used to quickly win a large enough market share. Of course, the objective events that are happening all over the world today and, in one way or another, concern everyone, have also influenced. Some companies attracted credit money in order to ensure payments to partners much earlier than money from cellular operators came to them to pay advances, close fraud problems and other difficulties that arise with financial calculations. It is clear that this strategy was aimed at getting the maximum share of the market at any cost and in the shortest possible time. It turned out what happened. Today we see that such a policy has discredited itself. Maybe because of some internal difficulties of these companies, and maybe because of the fact that there is simply no free money on the market, neither “cheap” nor “expensive”. Indeed, the crisis is now so deep that many end users of services in billing companies are not even sure whether they will ever see the money they earn.
I.Kh .: But is the game worth the candle? Can you estimate the size of the mobile payment market?
S .: Serious and targeted research on this topic has not yet been conducted. I think the turnover of the mobile payments market in 2008 will reach 180 million USD. That is exactly what the subscribers will pay. At the same time, the growth rates of the market are impressive: in my estimation, this year alone the market has grown 3 times.
I.Kh .: Many owners of Internet projects are cool about mobile payments because of the fact that operators retain a significant portion of Premium SMS revenue. How important are mobile payments today for the Internet industry?
S .: Of course, SMS payments have their limitations, and the high commission of operators, perhaps the most significant. Nevertheless, we are talking about the fact that SMS payments have historically been useful to those companies that, in fact, sell “air”. I'm talking about Internet projects, in which the incremental cost of production services is actually zero. They are not so sensitive to the size of the commission. According to our data, in the structure of payments for most companies, SMS-payments occupy a share of 85% -95%, and in some cases this figure reaches 100%.
I.Kh .: But there are other ways to pay for services on the Internet, for example, bank cards, payment systems.
S .: Of course, but the fact is that today the average Russian user, if you look at it, does not have a credit card suitable for payment on the Internet, moreover, he has no other means of payment at all. Even despite the significant success shown by Russian banks in popularizing payment cards, despite the popularity of WebMoney and Yandex.Money, in absolute terms, we are talking only about a very small proportion of Internet users in Russia. Judge for yourself: today in Russia there are about 30 million Internet users, we can talk about about 3 million payment cards, about 5-6 million WebMoney users and about 2 million Yandex.Money users. That is, collectively, this is only a third of Internet users.
I.Kh .: It turns out that mobile payments are important for the development of Internet business in Russia as a whole?
S .: Yes, the emergence and wide distribution of SMS payments in general allowed itself to receive an additional source of income. Currently, for many large companies, including the well-known Mail.ru and Rambler.ru, there are actually two parallel, completely independent sources of income: micropayments and advertising.
I.Kh .: One of the most important and topical issues today is uncertainty, which projects can become partners of a new company?
S .: Unfortunately, it happened so that the SMS-payments market attracts not only owners of Internet projects seeking to monetize resources, but also fraudsters .. One player, even a large one, cannot radically affect the entire market, and we, Of course, we hope to cooperate with colleagues in the market. We have developed a set of measures aimed at improving the situation on the market and preventing fraud; we will impose strict requirements on partners in order to eliminate unfair competition and fraud cases.
I.Kh .: So all the same, how much will the conditions change for partners who want to accept mobile payments on their websites?
S .: There will be an adjustment of commercial conditions of work for partners. It is necessary to clearly understand that there are objective realities of today's market, and we cannot ignore them .. It is likely that deductions will decrease and payment terms will increase, but money will be paid and no one will change the rules of the game on the go. In general, for all partners, for whom stability and reliability is important, all conditions will be created.
I.Kh .: But in general, conditions will become worse?
S .: I don’t think so: a certain rebalancing will just happen. Perhaps the terms of payments will be less attractive, but today, I think everyone is more concerned about the issue of guarantees .. And Planet3 is just ready to provide them.
I.Kh .: So your advantage will be in guarantees of stability and reliability?
S .: Exactly.
I.Kh .: Well, what about the service, maintenance and support of partners?
S .: This will be all right: we will work directly with partners, solve their problems and serve their activities. As for the services themselves, these will be not only SMS-based services, but also services for receiving money through other channels - plastic cards, payment terminals.
I.Kh .: That is, partners will have the opportunity to integrate a multi-billing system?
S .: That's right. It will be possible to accept payments via SMS, via a call (iVR), using plastic bank cards and online payment systems.
I.Kh .: As you know, the market of mobile payments would not exist without the participation of operators. What does this market mean to them?
S .: Cellular operators “discovered” the SMS-payments market not so long ago, but, nevertheless, at the moment they understand that SMS-payments occupy a significant share in their revenue from additional services. Operators are also extremely interested in initiatives for self-regulation of the market and its self-organization. For them, it is extremely important that there be some kind of driving force that, not in words but in deed, makes serious efforts to prevent abuses and makes this market more civilized ..
I.Kh .: But today, the legal framework for mobile payments is still far from perfect ...
S .: Yes, the market is really at an intermediate stage now, because the legislative and regulatory framework does not keep up with the realities of life. But, nevertheless, serious work in this direction is already underway - for example, in the Infocommunication Union, which cooperates on this issue with cellular operators and the Ministry of Communications. And service providers are also involved in this work - for example, i-Free is participating in the work relevant groups. So we hope that soon initiatives and programs that will be useful to this market will be implemented.
Well, we will wait for the official press release. But more important, of course, will be the impressions of real partners who will work with the new company at least until the first payment. So far, everything looks quite decent. It is interesting to be able to use several methods of payment for the service and content on the website at once, and time will tell about guarantees.
Again, dear Habrovchane, if you have any questions - send it to your personal mail, after the official announcement I plan to take another, but already an official interview in which you will hear questions that concern you.
Ivan Khrustalev, Editor Content-Review.com specifically for Habrahabr
Ivan Khrustalev: It’s probably worth starting from the main point. Today, tomorrow, as I know, i-Free will announce the creation of Planet3, which will operate in the mobile payment market. Can you confirm this?
Interlocutor: The direction, which within the framework of i-Free has long been established as an independent line of business, is set free. It will work under its own brand, with its team, will build its relations with both strategic partners and customers, but will not be tied to the i-Free brand.
I.Kh .: Does this announcement follow too quickly? After all, just last week, another major market player announced a similar initiative. What is the reason for such a rush?
S .: i-Free has always been one of the largest players in this market, and at the beginning of the year we decided to create Planet3. But, of course, I will not deny the current situation on the market did not affect the acceleration of the opening of the company.
')
I.Kh .: How will Planet3 differ from its colleagues in the market?
S .: According to our data, there are no similar companies at the moment. Most large players have subsidiaries, but they are just separate divisions. Planet3 will differ in that it will allow to cooperate and build long-term relations not only with i-Free, but also with other large aggregators. And due to this, we are going to ensure 100% reliability of our work and guarantee partners timely receipt of funds.
The company is entering the market not only with the support of i-Free: we have concluded strategic cooperation agreements with IncorMedia and Neva Line . These companies have significant technical and financial resources and will fulfill the role of aggregation partners for us. But, of course, Planet3 is open for cooperation with other market players.
I.Kh .: Can you tell in more detail what role i-Free plays in the new company and, most importantly, what will happen with the existing i-Free Partners partners ?
C .: i-Free is 100% owner of Planet3 and will play the role of a strategic partner for it, primarily in the field of aggregation. As for existing partners, we can expect changes in working conditions, but more on this later. Now I can only say that the changes will be aimed primarily at supporting partners, and not “tightening the screws”.
I.Kh .: But it turns out that Planet3 is only an intermediary between i-Free and partners, or not?
S .: No, it is not. For i-Free, there will be only a guarantee of payments and service SMS numbers, that is, aggregation. The entire service component, the whole team, all technical specialists will be concentrated in Planet3.
I.Kh .: How do you think, what is the reason for the crisis in the mobile payments market?
S: Some of the companies that have taken an aggressive stance on the market are now experiencing a systemic crisis. It was, in general, easy to predict for a long time and it is primarily associated with those commercial models that were used to quickly win a large enough market share. Of course, the objective events that are happening all over the world today and, in one way or another, concern everyone, have also influenced. Some companies attracted credit money in order to ensure payments to partners much earlier than money from cellular operators came to them to pay advances, close fraud problems and other difficulties that arise with financial calculations. It is clear that this strategy was aimed at getting the maximum share of the market at any cost and in the shortest possible time. It turned out what happened. Today we see that such a policy has discredited itself. Maybe because of some internal difficulties of these companies, and maybe because of the fact that there is simply no free money on the market, neither “cheap” nor “expensive”. Indeed, the crisis is now so deep that many end users of services in billing companies are not even sure whether they will ever see the money they earn.
I.Kh .: But is the game worth the candle? Can you estimate the size of the mobile payment market?
S .: Serious and targeted research on this topic has not yet been conducted. I think the turnover of the mobile payments market in 2008 will reach 180 million USD. That is exactly what the subscribers will pay. At the same time, the growth rates of the market are impressive: in my estimation, this year alone the market has grown 3 times.
I.Kh .: Many owners of Internet projects are cool about mobile payments because of the fact that operators retain a significant portion of Premium SMS revenue. How important are mobile payments today for the Internet industry?
S .: Of course, SMS payments have their limitations, and the high commission of operators, perhaps the most significant. Nevertheless, we are talking about the fact that SMS payments have historically been useful to those companies that, in fact, sell “air”. I'm talking about Internet projects, in which the incremental cost of production services is actually zero. They are not so sensitive to the size of the commission. According to our data, in the structure of payments for most companies, SMS-payments occupy a share of 85% -95%, and in some cases this figure reaches 100%.
I.Kh .: But there are other ways to pay for services on the Internet, for example, bank cards, payment systems.
S .: Of course, but the fact is that today the average Russian user, if you look at it, does not have a credit card suitable for payment on the Internet, moreover, he has no other means of payment at all. Even despite the significant success shown by Russian banks in popularizing payment cards, despite the popularity of WebMoney and Yandex.Money, in absolute terms, we are talking only about a very small proportion of Internet users in Russia. Judge for yourself: today in Russia there are about 30 million Internet users, we can talk about about 3 million payment cards, about 5-6 million WebMoney users and about 2 million Yandex.Money users. That is, collectively, this is only a third of Internet users.
I.Kh .: It turns out that mobile payments are important for the development of Internet business in Russia as a whole?
S .: Yes, the emergence and wide distribution of SMS payments in general allowed itself to receive an additional source of income. Currently, for many large companies, including the well-known Mail.ru and Rambler.ru, there are actually two parallel, completely independent sources of income: micropayments and advertising.
I.Kh .: One of the most important and topical issues today is uncertainty, which projects can become partners of a new company?
S .: Unfortunately, it happened so that the SMS-payments market attracts not only owners of Internet projects seeking to monetize resources, but also fraudsters .. One player, even a large one, cannot radically affect the entire market, and we, Of course, we hope to cooperate with colleagues in the market. We have developed a set of measures aimed at improving the situation on the market and preventing fraud; we will impose strict requirements on partners in order to eliminate unfair competition and fraud cases.
I.Kh .: So all the same, how much will the conditions change for partners who want to accept mobile payments on their websites?
S .: There will be an adjustment of commercial conditions of work for partners. It is necessary to clearly understand that there are objective realities of today's market, and we cannot ignore them .. It is likely that deductions will decrease and payment terms will increase, but money will be paid and no one will change the rules of the game on the go. In general, for all partners, for whom stability and reliability is important, all conditions will be created.
I.Kh .: But in general, conditions will become worse?
S .: I don’t think so: a certain rebalancing will just happen. Perhaps the terms of payments will be less attractive, but today, I think everyone is more concerned about the issue of guarantees .. And Planet3 is just ready to provide them.
I.Kh .: So your advantage will be in guarantees of stability and reliability?
S .: Exactly.
I.Kh .: Well, what about the service, maintenance and support of partners?
S .: This will be all right: we will work directly with partners, solve their problems and serve their activities. As for the services themselves, these will be not only SMS-based services, but also services for receiving money through other channels - plastic cards, payment terminals.
I.Kh .: That is, partners will have the opportunity to integrate a multi-billing system?
S .: That's right. It will be possible to accept payments via SMS, via a call (iVR), using plastic bank cards and online payment systems.
I.Kh .: As you know, the market of mobile payments would not exist without the participation of operators. What does this market mean to them?
S .: Cellular operators “discovered” the SMS-payments market not so long ago, but, nevertheless, at the moment they understand that SMS-payments occupy a significant share in their revenue from additional services. Operators are also extremely interested in initiatives for self-regulation of the market and its self-organization. For them, it is extremely important that there be some kind of driving force that, not in words but in deed, makes serious efforts to prevent abuses and makes this market more civilized ..
I.Kh .: But today, the legal framework for mobile payments is still far from perfect ...
S .: Yes, the market is really at an intermediate stage now, because the legislative and regulatory framework does not keep up with the realities of life. But, nevertheless, serious work in this direction is already underway - for example, in the Infocommunication Union, which cooperates on this issue with cellular operators and the Ministry of Communications. And service providers are also involved in this work - for example, i-Free is participating in the work relevant groups. So we hope that soon initiatives and programs that will be useful to this market will be implemented.
Well, we will wait for the official press release. But more important, of course, will be the impressions of real partners who will work with the new company at least until the first payment. So far, everything looks quite decent. It is interesting to be able to use several methods of payment for the service and content on the website at once, and time will tell about guarantees.
Again, dear Habrovchane, if you have any questions - send it to your personal mail, after the official announcement I plan to take another, but already an official interview in which you will hear questions that concern you.
Ivan Khrustalev, Editor Content-Review.com specifically for Habrahabr
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/43433/
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