AF2M Observatory confirms the attractiveness, growing popularity, and increasing adoption of carrier billing in France
The 9th edition of the AF2M Carrier Billing Report (French Association for the Development of Multi-operator Multimedia Services) confirms a clear trend for 2025: carrier billing continues to grow in France and is becoming increasingly embedded in everyday digital usage.
Published annually since 2017, the AF2M Report provides a comprehensive overview of market trends, key figures, and future outlooks. The latest edition highlights the continued expansion of a payment method that, while still complementary to traditional payment methods, is steadily gaining traction across the mobile digital ecosystem.
Originally rooted in micropayments, carrier billing continues to attract users thanks to its simplicity, security, and ease of use. With no need to enter or share banking details, and supported by the trusted relationship between users and telecom operators, it offers a seamless payment experience particularly suited to mobile environments.
According to the AF2M annual Carrier Billing Report, the key figures for 2025 illustrate this momentum:
• +12% market growth
• 12 million users, including an average of 4.7 million active monthly users
• 256 million transactions representing€884 million, up +12% compared to 2024
• App stores and streaming services remain the main growth drivers, with €487.6 million in transactions, up +17% compared to 2024
• Carrier billing for e-commerce sites via Internet+ reached €202 million, up +9% compared to 2024
• SMS-based payments for media interactivity, ticketing and donations accounted for €194 million, up +3% compared to 2024
Alexis Trichet, President of AF2M, comments:
“The growth of carrier billing in 2025 confirms its lasting integration into digital usage. Driven in particular by app stores and streaming services, it continues to attract users thanks to its simplicity and its seamless integration into the mobile environment. These results highlight the structuring role of operator billing in the digital content and services economy.”
As highlighted by AF2M, this growth is driven both by well-established use cases such as digital content and services consumption and by the gradual expansion into new services including e-commerce and mobility ticketing.
In this context, carrier billing is establishing itself as a complementary alternative payment method with strong development potential, supported by the diversification of digital services and evolving user expectations.
Key market trends shaping the evolution of carrier billing in France
The AF2M Observatory highlights how the carrier billing market is structured around several major service categories, reflecting both the strong foundation of historical use cases and the emergence of new growth drivers.
Digital services: streaming and app stores leading adoption
According to AF2M, streaming platforms and app stores remain the dominant drivers of carrier billing in France, accounting for more than half of total transaction volumes. In 2025, they generated €487.6 million, marking a +17% increase year over year.
This trend confirms that carrier billing is particularly well suited to digital content and services consumption, where frictionless access and seamless user journeys are critical.
The continued growth of these use cases is closely linked to the ability of market players to deliver scalable, high-performance and user-centric digital experiences, while maintaining customer confidence in telecom operators as trusted payment providers.
In line with these market dynamics, Digital Virgo is further accelerating the development of robust, high-performance and agile technology platforms designed to support the distribution and monetization of digital services. These dedicated solutions enable telecom operators to innovate, reduce time-to-market for their offers, and unlock new revenue streams.
This includes the development of flexible OTT ecosystems, facilitating the transition toward scalable streaming services with strong monetization potential. Supported by a performance-driven marketing approach, with digital payments at the core, Digital Virgo enables the deployment of effective monetization strategies that create long-term value for partners. Still ensuring a seamless, user-centric experience across the entire journey, from acquisition and payment to frictionless access and customer care.
Mobility and ticketing: expanding into everyday services
AF2M also highlights the growing role of carrier billing in transactional use cases. The ticketing segment, covering transport and events, reached €46.9 million in 2025, up +10% compared to 2024.
This growth reflects the increasing integration of carrier billing into everyday services, offering users a simple and immediate way to access transport and event-related services directly from their mobile devices.
In this context, Digital Virgo acts as a bridge between transport operators and telecom providers, promoting more accessible and inclusive mobility through digitalized ticketing and seamless mobile payments via carrier billing.
Through its 360° DV Ticketing solution, a comprehensive ecosystem designed to simplify the distribution and monetization of mobility and event services, Digital Virgo enables partners to deploy frictionless, carrier billing-powered and user-friendly ticketing experiences at scale.
This approach is illustrated by an innovative partnership with SNCF Voyageurs, supported by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, which led to the launch of a pilot SMS ticketing program on selected regional lines two years ago, powering the first SMS-based origin-to-destination ticketing system in French regional rail.
Users can purchase and pay for their ticket in just 3 SMS, with no app, no bank card, and no internet connection required. The payment is directly charged to their mobile bill.
A use case demonstrating the potential of carrier billing to support everyday mobility services and highlighting the growing adoption of universal, accessible digital ticketing solutions within a secure mobile ecosystem.
Media interactivity and donations: long-standing use cases that remain strategic
The AF2M Observatory also confirms the continued importance of SMS-based services, which remain a key pillar of the market. In 2025, SMS payments generated €194 million, including €145.3 million through SMS+, widely used for media interactivity such as voting and contests to engage and monetize audiences.
These figures underline the enduring relevance of SMS as a monetization channel for media players, while also representing a key opportunity for nonprofits to run impactful donation campaigns.
Digital Virgo is strongly engaged in this space through its DV Live solution, an interactivity and audience monetization platform designed to engage communities across television, radio, online media, press, and social networks.
With more than 30,000 campaigns, 75,000 prizes, and over 20 million SMS received each year, DV Live enables large-scale audience engagement strategies through voting, surveys, contests, autograph sessions, voicemail, and other interactive formats.
At the same time, Digital Virgo is accelerating the development of RCS, recognizing innovation as a key driver of growth, particularly in media interactivity. In early 2026, Digital Virgo began supporting partners such as M6, the first French media group to deploy on-air interactivity activations via RCS, with initial campaigns already delivering promising conversion results and positioning RCS overall as a powerful lever for audience monetization.
Through close collaboration with telecom operators in France, Digital Virgo strengthens its medias partners’ engagement and monetization strategies through multichannel approaches combining SMS interactivity, RCS campaigns, and digital services.
Driving the next phase of carrier billing growth through innovation
As highlighted by AF2M, carrier billing in France is entering a new phase of development, driven by the diversification of use cases and the growing demand for seamless, mobile-first payment experiences. While still complementary to traditional payment methods, its steady adoption across digital services, mobility, and media interactivity confirms its long-term potential within the French mobile ecosystem.
In this evolving landscape, the ability to combine innovation with operational excellence is becoming a key differentiator. At Digital Virgo, innovation is a strategic growth lever, deployed across all solutions through close collaboration with telecom operators in France and across international markets. From accelerating RCS development to continuously enhancing agile and high-performance platforms, Digital Virgo supports its partners in scaling their offers and unlocking new monetization opportunities.
By placing digital payments and performance marketing at the core of its approach, Digital Virgo helps partners build effective and sustainable monetization strategies, adapted to evolving digital uses and end-user expectations.