Barcelona, February 20, 2026. — Pay by Call SL, a Spanish company specialized in PCI-DSS–certified secure telephone payment solutions (IVR Payments), has once again been awarded the Ajuntament de Barcelona’s telephone payments service, offered to citizens through the toll-free 010 customer service number.
Barcelona’s city council thus reinforces its position as a pioneer among Spanish local administrations in protecting bank card data. Since 2018, the City of Barcelona has relied on Pay by Call SL’s platform to safeguard the security of telephone payments, ensuring that citizens’ data is not exposed to—or manipulated by—human agents during the transaction.
In this new tender, bidders were required not only to comply with the strict PCI-DSS standard—an international benchmark governing the secure handling of cardholder data—but also, for the first time, to hold certification under Spain’s National Security Framework (ENS), a requirement that strengthens guarantees in Public Administration environments. Pay by Call SL, accredited with PCI-DSS Level 1 certification and ENS High category certification, has been awarded the service again for two years, with the possibility of extension up to four years.
“Having an institution of the scale of the Ajuntament de Barcelona continue to trust our technology is a clear sign of its commitment to security and public-sector innovation,” said Carlos Alonso, CEO of Pay by Call SL, adding: “Our goal is for every telephone payment in Spain to be processed under the highest standards of protection and regulatory compliance.”
Despite advances in cybersecurity, many city councils, public bodies, and large IBEX 35 corporations still fail to comply with PCI-DSS, unnecessarily exposing customers and citizens to risk by allowing agents to hear or handle sensitive card data during calls.
Pay by Call SL—whose technology already protects telephone payments for large municipalities, the Regional Tax Agency of Murcia, public water utilities, and leading electricity companies—stresses that lacking a secure telephone payment solution represents both an economic and reputational risk for any organization.
In addition, Pay by Call SL provides this service to other top-tier city councils, where the solution has been integrated in white-label mode through the BPO providers awarded the 010 citizen service contract, enabling the adoption of secure IVR payments without altering the existing architecture.
In an increasingly threatened digital landscape shaped by highly specialized cybercriminal attacks, PCIaaS (PCI as a Service) offerings like Pay by Call SL’s enable organizations—at minimal variable cost—to comply with PCI-DSS, avoid penalties, and, above all, provide peace of mind to both institutions and citizens.
Since 2018, the Ajuntament de Barcelona has “slept soundly” thanks to a trust-based model that positions the City of Barcelona as a national reference in secure telephone payments.