‘Bundle or be bundled’ was the threat emblazoned on Bango’s badges at MWC. As a well-established carrier billing specialist, the new crop of AI apps have shaken things up a bit on the billing bundling front. However, a surprising survey result from Bango suggests that operators have legs in this market. Bango customers include Airtel, NTT Docomo, Optus, U Mobile, and Verizon. While we are not especially fond of Bango’s ‘digital vending machine’ marketing message (vending machine purchases are one-offs, not subscriptions), the market positioning is solid and the sales pitch is straightforward. Operators the world over have struggled to increase ARPU, and so here is a prepackaged way to provide bundled additional services to the phone bill. The consumers…