Monitise has scored a five year deal with Telefónica, making it the telco giant's preferred mobile money technology partner.
The agreement will see Monitise take a lead role in the development of a global technology platform to support payment and mobile commerce services for Telefónica Digital, the telco's global innovation arm. The initial focus of the partnership will be in the UK.
Monitise began life as a mobile banking specialist but has recently been pushing to widen its sphere of influence into payments and commerce. The Telefónica partnership marks a second major deal for its Buy Anything mobile commerce initiative following a three-contract with Visa Europe.
Monitise Group Chief Executive Alastair Lukies, CEO, Monitise, says: "Successful mobile commerce, whether local in-market solutions or global services, is ultimately about collaboration. Partnerships like this show how we are at the heart of the accelerating convergence via mobile between the offline and digital worlds of banking, payments and commerce."
In a note, Canaccord Genuity says: "The contract expands our view of Monitise and its addressable market. Monitise has become not just an enabler of mobile money for banks but now also for mobile network operators (MNOs). The contract is Monitise's first major alliance outside the traditional financial institutions. We see it leading to opportunities with other companies in the mobile ecosystem. Today's ground-breaking agreement opens a new market for Monitise."
Monitise shares were up 1.88 pence, or 5.43%, to 36.38 pence per share at pixel time.