Finnish customers who send money to DNA each month will soon have the option to add Play Store purchases to their bill. The mobile provider has announced that it's launching support for Google Play carrier billing today.
This makes DNA the first network to offer Google Play carrier billing in Finland. The announcement is fresh enough that the country hasn't yet appeared on the relevant Google Play support page.
If you live in Finland and come across the functionality inside the Play Store, feel free to toss up a screenshot in the comments.
PRESS RELEASE
DNA and Fortumo First to Launch Google Play Carrier Billing in Finland
Tartu, ESTONIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Finnish mobile operator DNA is today launching carrier billing on the Google Play app store. Customers of DNA can now purchase apps and games from Google Play by completing a 1-click payment and charging the purchases to their phone bill.
The technical platform of the Google Play billing solution for DNA was delivered by Fortumo, a mobile payments company that provides direct carrier billing to digital content providers, device manufacturers and app stores in over 90 countries worldwide. Earlier this month, Fortumo plugged in direct carrier billing for 70 million consumers of the mobile operators Smart and Sun in the Philippines for direct carrier billing on Windows Phone Store.
“DNA wants to offer its customers the opportunity to effortlessly buy content online by phone and to pay for purchases via a telephone subscription invoice or prepaid credit. Mobile payments charged to DNA's phone bills are now also available for the Google Play app store. Fortumo impressed DNA with its expertise and experience in the field of international mobile payment solutions. The cooperation with Fortumo in service deployment and system integration has been very smooth," says Cedric Kamtsan, Vice President of Handset Business at DNA.
“Fortumo accelerates the launch of app stores partnerships for carriers by providing a turn-key billing solution. This means mobile operators can move at speed as they do not have to do any additional development on their side. We are excited to launch carrier billing on Google Play for DNA as the first mobile operator in Finland,” said Gerri Kodres, Chief Business Officer at Fortumo.
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.
According to data from eMarketer, 68% of people in Finland already own a smartphone. As reported by Gartner Line, some 90% of phones sold in Finland at the moment are smart phones. The Android operating system accounts for nearly half (48%) of all smart phones in Finnish mobile networks (Gartner Line, Finnish telecommunications market 2013–2017, August 2015 review).
Besides delivering Google Play and Windows Phone Store connections to carriers in Europe and Asia, Fortumo is also used by leading digital content providers and game developers like EA Mobile, Gameloft, Rovio, Times Internet and Gaana. In order to enable global carrier billing for these merchants, Fortumo has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators across the world, including mobile operator groups Telefónica, Telenor, Singtel, Turkcell andKyivstar, as well as leading mobile operators in India and China.
