The Estonian mobile payments company, Fortumo, has partnered with a leading Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCOM) to expand its direct carrier billing services in India.
The companies announced in statement that all customers of RCOM will be able to make purchases for digital content and games by charging the payments to their mobile bill or mobile prepaid account.
Fortumo’s solution will enable Reliance customers to enjoy a host of digital entertainment content on the move on their mobile devices, across movies, music, games and live TV: watch video-on-demand with Hollywood and Indian movies, listen to music online, browse through Indian and international digital magazines and play games, all by paying through their mobile post-paid bill and mobile prepaid account.
“Leading app stores and digital content merchants are very keen to launch direct carrier billing in India due to the quickly growing smartphone ecosystem. We are very excited to partner with Reliance to help launch app stores and merchants rapidly,” said Sanjay Sinha, Country Manager of Fortumo India.
The company said that India is a market very well suited for direct carrier billing. “While only 4% of people in the country have access to credit cards, Fortumo’s platform allows content partners to collect payments from any mobile phone owner. This can be done regardless of whether the consumer has a prepaid SIM card or a postpaid contract with their mobile operator.”
Founded in 2007 in Tartu, Fortumo has offices in Estonia, San Francisco, Beijing, Delhi, Singapore and London. The company has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators in over 90 countries. In India, it currently partners with five mobile phone operators, reaching potentially to 800 million people.
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Cover: a woman using a mobile phone in Jaipur, India (courtesy of Getty Images).
