Mobile operator dtac, which is part of Telenor Group, and mobile payments company Fortumo have launched direct carrier billing in Thailand. Thanks to the partnership, more than 27 million dtac subscribers will now be able to pay for top digital content and gaming by charging purchases to their phone bill.
Tim Verouden, the senior vice president and head of digital services, at Total Access Communication, which trades under the dtac brand, said: “Our partnership with Fortumo is providing convenience to dtac customers with direct operator billing. Customers will be able to pay for top digital content and gaming by charging their purchases to their phone bill. It is our strategy to collaborate with world class partners to attract customers of those partners and leverage their products and services to develop an innovative campaign to maximise the benefits to our customers, as part of our Best in Digital Services strategy aiming to develop innovative digital services to meet customers’ data and internet demands.”
Gerri Kodres, the chief business officer at Fortumo, added: “Only a quarter of the global population has access to credit cards. A majority of the unbanked people are located in emerging markets. This means mobile payments provide a strong alternative to bank-based payments in the fastest growing smartphone markets of the world. We are excited to seize this opportunity together with dtac in the Thai market and build direct carrier billing into the default payment method for online payments in the country.”
While Thailand has a population of 67 million, only four million people have access to credit cards, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, more than 33 million people already own a smartphone in the country. This means that without carrier billing, gaming and digital merchants miss out on more than 85% of paying users in the country.