The mobile payments company Fortumo and China Mobile Pakistan (Zong) are today announcing a direct carrier billing partnership in Pakistan.
Digital content merchants and app stores using the Fortumo carrier billing platform can now collect payments from 26 million Zong customers in the country. Fortumo is the only global direct carrier billing provider in Pakistan where the company has been working together with Telenor Pakistan since July 2014.
"Millions of people in emerging markets are accessing the internet only from their phones. This new digital audience is connected to the world but cannot access paid content as a majority of them do not own credit cards. We are looking forward to working together with Zong in Pakistan to enable merchants access to this growing audience through carrier billing,” said Gerri Kodres, Chief Business Officer at Fortumo.
According to data from World Bank, Pakistan has a credit card penetration of less than 1% (less than 1 million credit cards across 182 million inhabitants). Meanwhile, an estimated 56 million Pakistanis now have a smartphone. The adoption of smartphones in the country is accelerated by the fact that both Zong and Telenor Pakistan launched 3G networks in Pakistan during 2014.
Fortumo’s direct carrier billing platform allows users to make payments over a data connection by confirming purchases with one click on their phone. Payments are processed without any additional information required from the mobile user which provides a significant conversion improvement compared to any other online payment method.
Fortumo’s direct carrier billing platform is currently available to over 1.3 billion people in 16 Asian countries. Globally Fortumo covers 95 countries and reaches over 3 billion end-users with its carrier billing solution.
Besides app stores such as Google Play and Windows Phone Store, Fortumo’s platform is used by leading digital content providers and game developers, including Sony, HOOQ and Electronic Arts. To enable global carrier billing for these merchants, Fortumo has partnerships with more than 350 mobile operators across the world, including mobile operator groups such as Telefónica, Telenor, Singtel, Turkcell and Kyivstar, and leading mobile operators in India. In recent news from the region, Fortumo announced a partnership with the Malaysian mobile operator Digi, part of Telenor Group.