Bango today announced another key partnership in our mission to give telcos an easy to launch, always available “vending machine” that brings the world’s most popular media services to people everywhere.

T-Mobile US, which has shown how an ecosystem of desirable content and services can be built around something as commoditized as a broadband connection, has licensed the Bango Platform to build out its customer offers and add-ons program. Using Bango technology, T-Mobile customers can activate offers from the world’s leading entertainment, gaming, lifestyle, and productivity brands and manage these services through their T-Mobile subscription.

Guillermo Escofet, principal analyst at research company Omdia, explains the thinking that is driving this adoption of the Bango technology:

“For telcos, bundling and offering compelling third-party digital media and lifestyle services with their customers’ subscription plans is a way of differentiating themselves from other telcos, as well as boosting user retention, user acquisition and ARPU. Telcos want to be seen as go-to platforms for all things digital, rather than just data pipes.”

This latest partnership with T-Mobile US comes hot on the heels of a similar agreement between Verizon and Bango announced in September 2021, which is behind Verizon’s recently launched +play platform for consumer subscriptions and offers. Popular subscription services include Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO along with gaming such as Xbox and PlayStation passes. Recently lifestyle products like Calm, Peloton, Duolingo, McAfee and others are starting to be added to the offers mix.

Customers know they have choices in how they find, choose, and manage their subscription services. Consumer-focused communications companies like T-Mobile and Verizon provide an easy to use and cost-effective option for consumers that want to enjoy a wide range of subscription services from a variety of third parties. Of course delivering the combination of choice, product range and a simple user experience means complexity in the background.

Guillermo Escofet comments:

“The backend integration and service management needed to run successful bundle offers can be extremely challenging. For telcos wanting to partner with a wide array of digital media brands, and digital media brands wanting to partner with different telcos across different territories, it has become essential to use the services of platforms like Bango’s.”

To fulfil the Bango vision of becoming the technology behind every payment choice, we have created this sophisticated digital vending machine that guarantees to give consumers the products and services they want, at a time and in a place of their choosing. It gives merchants a defined and well understood model for placing their products and services in front of millions more online users, and a way of working with telco and other distribution partners to put the right product offers in front of users wherever they are. For telco partners like T-Mobile, Bango provides a ready to deploy, multi-purpose machine for merchandizing and vending an unlimited range of products and services in a variety of different offer and bundle configurations.

Offers and bundling is a rapidly growing sector of the digital subscriptions market, which is strategically important to both merchants and their partners.

Last words to Omdia Research:

“For digital media, gaming and lifestyle brands, telco bundling is becoming the swiftest and most cost-effective way of either penetrating new markets or broadening their user base within their existing footprint. Omdia forecasts that subscription-based video, music, games, and other digital services revenue derived from telco bundling will grow, globally, from $10.6 billion in 2021 to $19.2 billion in 2026.”