Vodafone and Digital Virgo, a global specialist in distribution, payments and monetisation strategies, today announced a partnership to help enterprises, other operators, media companies and content creators deliver secure, seamless and trusted digital experiences to consumers in Europe and Africa.
The two companies will work together to accelerate adoption of standardised Open Gateway Network APIs across established mobile payment and carrier billing systems. By integrating operator-grade identity, authentication and fraud prevention capabilities into these systems, third-party providers can make smartphone payments more trusted, reduce friction and support new revenue opportunities.
Under the agreement, Digital Virgo will integrate Vodafone Network APIs into digital monetisation platforms its monetisation solutions offer serving 300+ merchants and over 150 operators while also making these capabilities available to other organisations. Initially, the partnership covers five markets, including Germany, Greece, Spain, South Africa and the UK, with plans to extend it more countries.
The combination of Digital Virgo’s operations in more than 60 countries and Vodafone’s global network reach and leading role in developing new standardised APIs, will help make trusted telecom network capabilities more accessible. It also reinforces growing industry support for the GSMA Open Gateway initiative and international CAMARA-based standards, which create a common framework for developers and enterprises to securely access network features through consistent, scalable interfaces.
As digital commerce continues to grow, businesses need to improve security while improving the customer experience. Traditional authentication mechanisms can create extra steps, causing more customers to abandon the process and expose gaps for fraudsters. To this end, Vodafone and Digital Virgo will focus on two key areas to help organisations reduce friction across digital journeys, improve conversion rates, strengthen customer trust and minimise exposure to increasingly sophisticated fraud threats. These include:
- Replacing SMS One-Time Password (OTP) journeys with Number Verify to create faster, lower-friction and user-friendly authentication.
- Combining Open Gateway APIs (Know Your Customer Match and SIM Swap among others) to strengthen onboarding (scoring included), account protection and fraud controls for merchants and digital service providers.
Johanna Wood, Director of Network APIs, Vodafone, said: “Vodafone’s partnership with Digital Virgo will make our secure network capabilities available to more enterprises through standardised APIs. As smartphones become the default way for people to shop and bank online, the network is playing a critical role in enabling trusted ecommerce services and increasing customer confidence.”
Stéphanie Sollinger, Western Europe & Canada Sales Director, Digital Virgo, added: “The telecom industry is entering a new era where network capabilities are becoming programmable, standardised and accessible through APIs. By combining Vodafone Network APIs with Digital Virgo expertise in mobile commerce, we can help merchants strengthen authentication, reduce fraud and improve customer experiences while accelerating the adoption of trusted digital services across international markets.”
Note to Editors
Transforming Carrier Billing
The partnership reflects a broader evolution taking place across telecoms, payments and digital commerce. Carrier billing has already connected millions of consumers globally to digital services; as digital ecosystems mature, operators and their partners are now adding trusted identity and security features to the mobile payment experience.
For enterprises, this provides access to operator-grade authentication and identity capabilities through expanded commercial relationships. For operators, it creates new ways to monetise network capabilities, and for consumers, it supports safer, faster and more seamless digital experiences.
Accelerating industry-wide adoption
Vodafone sees collaboration as essential to the success of the GSMA Open Gateway programme. Its partnership with Digital Virgo shows how carrier billing providers, mobile payment specialists, aggregators and digital commerce platforms can use standardised Network APIs to address practical challenges such as customer onboarding, authentication, fraud prevention and transaction optimisation.
Vodafone expects Network APIs including Number Verify, KYC Match and SIM Swap to become increasingly important in building a trusted, secure and interoperable digital economy. More information about Vodafone’s Network APIs can be found here: https://developer.vodafone.com/
About Vodafone Group
Vodafone is a leading European and African telecoms company.
We serve over 360 million mobile and broadband customers, operating networks in 15 countries with investments in a further four and partners in over 40 more. We have capacity on more than 70 subsea cable systems – the backbone of the internet – and we are developing a new direct-to-mobile satellite communications service to connect areas without coverage. Vodafone runs one of the world’s largest IoT platforms, with over 240 million IoT connections globally, and we provide financial services to around 103 million customers across seven African countries – managing more transactions than any other provider.
From the seabed to the stars, Vodafone’s purpose is to keep everyone connected.
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com follow us on X at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.
About Digital Virgo
Digital Virgo is a key partner of telecom operators worldwide, enabling access to mobile services, entertainment, and commerce through carrier billing and mobile money. Its comprehensive range of solutions bridges merchants and telcos to deliver secure and scalable payment and monetization strategies. With a team of 750 experts, an annual revenue exceeding $500 million, and operations in 60+ countries, Digital Virgo combines extensive reach with local expertise to deliver innovative solutions in the mobile ecosystem.
