More than 2 million Telia Norway subscribers in Norway can now pay for content from the app store by charging purchases to their phone bill.

“Telia Norway is pleased to add Google Play to the list of merchants where our customers can pay with the Norwegian common MNO payment service Strex. Fortumo is chosen as partner because of their previous successful cooperation with Telia Company and because they already cooperate with Strex in Norway which resulted in a rapid implementation,” said Simen Skou, Product Manager at Telia Norway.

“Telcos who enable great digital experiences for their subscribers gain a competitive advantage on their market and as a result, increase customer loyalty and revenue. Our goal is to simplify the process of new digital merchant launches, so that telcos can focus on relationships with their customers. Telia is the leading mobile operator group in Northern Europe and we are looking forward helping them grow revenue from Google Play,” said Martin Koppel, CEO & Co-Founder at Fortumo.

Beside the technical project management and development necessary for the launch, Fortumo will share experience and insights on how to increase app store revenue, including on topics such as promotional campaigns and spend limit optimizations. With multiple deployments of Google Play in the region, Fortumo is able to benchmark and pinpoint critical improvement areas for Telia Norway. Telia Norway will also be able to take advantage of the Fortumo Insight data analytics platform, which gives telcos real-time access to app store performance data.

Norway is the third market where Fortumo is working with Telia Group on Google Play: the two companies are already working together on Google Play in Estonia and Latvia. In recent news from the region, Fortumo also announced a payments partnership with the leading mobile parking provider EasyPark.

Carrier billing is the 2nd most popular payment method for digital gaming in Norway. According to SuperData Research, the payment method holds a 21% market share in the country, just behind credit cards at 30%. The popularity of carrier billing is attributed to its more user-friendly payment experience: consumers do not need to sign in or create additional accounts to make payments, nor do they need to share their personal data online.