UK-headquartered Monitise, a mobile payment platform specialist, has signed a five-year agreement with Telefonica Digital to develop new and existing mobile money services for the Spanish giant’s customers.

According to the Guardian, city analysts suggest the deal could be worth around $12 million a year.

Bob Liao, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity – Monitise’s broker – said the Telefonica deal was a “game-changing contract” for the UK firm.

Monitise does not reveal how much the contract might be worth but says the “total minimum revenues are not dissimilar” to those recently announced through a new partnership with Visa Europe.

The Telefonica partnership, which will focus initially on the UK market, is the first major foray for Monetise beyond arrangements with financial institutions.

“This new partnership leverages our Mobile Money platforms, products and assets,” said Monitise chief executive Alastair Lukies. “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.”

The Telefonica deal comes closely on the heels of a partnership announcement between Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking and Monitise to develop a range of mobile card acceptance solutions for micro-merchants, start-ups and small business owners.

Monetise claims over 20 million consumers use its patented technology, which accounts for over $30 billion of payments, purchases and transfers annually.