Many global CSPs are looking to stake their claim in mobile payment processing and money management. As reported earlier, Orange has made major strides in mobile money, boasting 10 million customers. Across the pond, a struggling consortium of carriers in the U.S. is trying to make Isis happen. Instead of battling with banks for a slice of the mobile money pie, Telefonica has joined them. In mid-April, CaixaBank, Banco Santander, and Telefonica announced a jointly developed brand, Yapp, a mobile money, shopping, and payment solution. This represents the first ever European alliance between banks and telecommunication operators. Yapp Shopping will be an open platform that is open to any mobile operator or bank, and Yapp Money will enable Yapp users to safely and securely transfer money between mobile devices. Yaap Money will also be an open service, available to everyone, independent of their banking entity or telecommunication operator.

Mobile advertising presents another promising revenue opportuntity for CSPs, and again, Telefonica is ahead of the game. In mid-April, Telefonica announced Axonix, a telco-driven mobile ad exchange platform. The innovation was made possible by an investment from Blackstone GSO Cpaital Partners and Telefonica's acquistion of MobClix, a mediation solution for mobile advertising.  

Stephen Shurrock, CEO of  Digital Service & Innovation at Telefónica, commented on the news in a press release. â€œAxonix is created specifically for the mobile advertising industry, using technology with a four year heritage in leading this market to offer a central destination for operator-enriched advertising inventory. We’re proud to be the first telecoms company in the world to own and power a mobile ad exchange platform, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to putting digital services front and center as we transform into a digital telco."

Telco-TV continues to eat cable's lunch

A quick peek at the latest earnings reports reveals that Telco TV is still chipping away at cable in the U.S. Both AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS added tens of thousands of pay-TV subs last quarter. This follows in line with predictions from Infonetics and ABI Research.

Additional wireline subs is always welcome news, but U-verse is just one component of a multifaceted strategy for AT&T, and the company continued to innovate in new directions in April. Last month AT&T expanded its User Defined Cloud to include Amdocs and Juniper, celebrated a one year anniversary for its Digital Life solutions, and entered into a $500 million joint venture charged with acquiring, investing in, and launching over-the-top (OTT) video services.