The mobile operator Telia Estonia and the mobile payments company Fortumo are today launching direct carrier billing on the Google Play app store. Telia’s customers can now conveniently purchase apps and in-app content from the app store by charging payments to their phone bill.
Telia’s integration to Google Play has been enabled by Fortumo’s carrier billing platform that supports both app stores such as Google Play and digital merchants in other segments like music, video, social and gaming. As part of the agreement, Fortumo also provides Telia with Fortumo Insight, a smart data analytics platform which helps track and analyze app store performance and make improvements to grow carrier billing revenue.
In addition to Google Play, Fortumo claims that its direct carrier billing platform is used by digital media providers (Spotify, Sony, HOOQ, Gaana) and gaming companies (EA Mobile, Gameloft, Kinguin, Rovio). In order to enable global carrier billing for these merchants, Fortumo has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators across the world, including the groups Telenor, Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica and Singtel, as well as leading mobile operators in India.
Holger Haljand, board member of Telia Estonia
Adding mobile payments for Google Play is a logical step for Telia. Android users make up the majority of our subscriber base and now they can conveniently make payments in the app store. The popularity of mobile payments is growing rapidly and we plan to expand availability of this service in the future.
Taavi Krusell, Carrier Sales Director at Fortumo
Carrier billing is the most convenient and accessible way for people to make payments in Google Play and other app stores. Telia is the leading carrier group in Scandinavia and the Baltics and we are proud to launch Google Play in Telia Estonia as the first carrier in the group.
