Vivacom Roll Out Mastercard
“Can Bulgaria's largest telco become its customers' primary digital payment relationship by embedding a Mastercard-powered wallet and card into its existing four-million-strong subscriber base?”
Vivacom, Bulgaria's leading telecommunications operator with over four million customers, strategically entered the fintech space by partnering with Paynetics (an e-money licensed institution) and phyre (a digital banking platforms provider) to launch 'Pay by Vivacom' — a digital wallet and Mastercard Digital First card. Since Vivacom is not a financial institution itself, it adopted a Software-as-a-Service and Payment-as-a-Service model through Paynetics, acting as an agent of the licensed entity. This positions the telco as an embedded finance distributor rather than a regulated financial services provider.