A new update to Google Play's "Accepted Payment Methods" page has revealed a lot of changes to the direct billing section. First and foremost is the addition of 3 new carriers in Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom, the country's leading operator with over 11M subscribers (according to Wikipedia), as well as Asia Pacific Telecom and T Star, the fourth and fifth ranked operators, respectively. These join previously supported Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone Telecom, which have the second and third largest subscriber base in Taiwan.

The second change affects several countries and is merely a matter of designating operators by their official names instead of sticking with their parent companies or older brand names. It may be a simple modification, but it should make it easier for everyone to spot which operators are supported, especially those users who aren't aware of the carrier's history or ties. The changes are listed below for you:

  • Austria: 3 => Drei
  • Belgium: Belgacom => Proximus, KPN => BASE Company
  • Germany: T-Mobile => Deutsche Telekom, O2 => o2
  • Hungary: TMI => Magyar Telecom
  • Taiwan: FET => 遠傳電信 Far EasTone Telecom, Taiwan Mobile => 台灣大哥大 Taiwan Mobile Telecom
  • United Kingdom: H3G and Three => Three.

That's easier for us to research, you to read, and everyone to understand. And now we all know where the money goes to when we buy another game off Michael's incredibly long roundups.

Source: Google Play Support