The second largest mobile operator in Estonia, Elisa in partnership with Fortumo has launched direct carrier billing on the Google Play app store. With that, Elisa’s subscribers can now purchase apps and in-app content on Google Play by charging payments to their mobile phone bill.
Fortumo said that integrating Google Play through Fortumo allowed Elisa to save time and resources on development. The same integration will also allow Elisa to launch other merchants that are already connected to Fortumo’s platform, ranging from game developers to streaming service providers, social networks to financial technology companies. Elisa will also get access to Fortumo Insight which enables carriers to view carrier billing performance in real-time and make improvements to increase revenue.
Among others, Fortumo claims that the platform is used for app store billing by DNA in Finland, Viettel in Vietnam and Smart in the Philippines. Besides leading app stores, Fortumo also works with digital media companies (Sony, Hooq, Ditto TV, Gaana), gaming companies (EA Mobile, Gameloft, Kinguin, Rovio), digital publishers (Magzter) and financial technology providers.
Andrus Hiiepuu, Board Member of Elisa
Elisa is very glad to launch carrier billing on Google Play as the opportunity to purchase games, music and movies from the app store without needing a credit card is a very convenient solution for our customers. We chose to work with Fortumo for Google Play payments as they are a company with long-term experience in the payments market, operating in 94 countries.
Taavi Krusell, Carrier Sales Director at Fortumo
Smartphone ownership globally is significantly bigger today than the amount of people who can make payments online. This is due to many people not having access to bank-based payments and others not wanting to enter their card details online due to fear of fraud.
