TALLINN, Estonia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The mobile payments company Fortumo and the mobile operator group Orange are today announcing a direct carrier billing partnership, covering 29 markets in which Orange operates. The first country where the payment solution has been launched is Poland where more than 16 million Orange Polska subscribers will be able to make online payments by charging purchases to their mobile phone bill.
“I am more than happy that we start working with Fortumo in order to launch direct carrier billing for Fortumo’s international merchants in Poland. It was possible thanks to cooperation with Orange Group and the Group’s platform that enables partners using only one link to provide direct carrier billing to every Orange affiliate. Direct carrier billing eliminates all the imperfections that concerns Premium SMS both for our subscribers and to merchants by providing a convenient, quick and secure method of payment. I deeply believe that in the nearest future we will have a lot of services based on direct carrier billing in Poland”, said Łukasz Perzyński, head of premium rate services agency at Orange Polska.
“Fortumo’s platform enables carriers to launch payments across a wide variety of streaming services, app stores, games and social networks, taking away merchant onboarding and integration hassles from the carrier. Orange is one of the leading telecom groups in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, and Fortumo is glad to enable digital payments for millions of Orange users,” said Gerri Kodres, Chief Business Officer at Fortumo.
According to the World Bank, only 17% of Poles have a credit card, which means online payments are unavailable to most people in the country. At the same time, 41% of Poles already own a smartphone and consume digital content online. Carrier billing resolves the gap in payments by allowing any mobile phone owner to make purchases and charge the payments to their phone bill.
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.
SuperDataResearch estimates carrier billing to be the 2nd most popular payment method in Poland (19.4%) after digital wallets for payments in games. Additional information on the Polish mobile market and other countries in Central & Eastern Europe can be found from Fortumo’s recent market report.
Fortumo’s direct carrier billing platform is used by leading app stores (Google Play, Windows Phone Store), digital media companies (Sony, Hooq, Gaana) and game developers (EA Mobile, Gameloft, Rovio). In order to enable global carrier billing for these merchants, Fortumo has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators across the world.
About Fortumo
Fortumo is a mobile payments company that enables direct carrier billing with more than 350 mobile operators in 90+ countries. Fortumo's payment products work across a wide range of platforms including desktop devices, smartphones, feature phones, tablets and smart TV-s. These products give end-users a simple, 1-click payment method to charge online purchases to their phone bill. For carriers, connecting to Fortumo enables additional revenue from leading app stores, game developers and digital media companies while Fortumo takes care of the technical infrastructure, taxation, merchant onboarding and support in post-launch activities. Founded in 2007, Fortumo has offices in Estonia, San Francisco, Beijing, Delhi, Singapore and Hanoi and is backed by Intel Capital and Greycroft Partners. For more information, please visit https://fortumo.com.
