Telenor and Telefonica have both signed on with Fortumo in a deal to reach 460 million consumers.
The telecommunications operators, Telenor and Telefonica, from Europe, have boosted the reach of their mobile payments programs by 460 million users now that they have signed on with Fortumo, a firm that specializes in the service.
This has helped to boost Fortumo’s position among the leaders in this very rapidly growing industry.
The partnership among Fortumo, Telefonica, and Telenor will assist in providing direct carrier mobile payments billing services for an additional 460 million subscribers around the world, said a news release about the new collaboration. This type of billing means that consumers will use their smartphones to pay for digital goods that they purchase by having the amount added to their billing plans with their operators, instead of using credit cards, debit cards, or cash.
According to the companies, this type of billing makes mobile payments much more simple and convenient.
The Telefonica Digital BlueVia head, Jose Valles, said that “It makes it much simpler and convenient for consumers to buy digital goods which in turn helps content owners monetize their content.”
This most recent partnership follows closely on the heels of another deal that was reached by Fortumo, with Vodafone and China Mobile, two of the largest telecom groups worldwide. This has also made Fortumo one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies around the globe. It currently has offices in San Francisco, Estonia, and Beijing, and has received investment funds from Graycroft and Intel.
The firm’s mobile payments system functions over the web – on HTML5 apps, mobile web, and on desktop – as well as on purchases made in-app using Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 devices. It claims that it holds payment connectivity in 80 countries with more than 300 different mobile operators. This includes a number of exclusive direct carrier billing partnerships.
These are some highly important and strategic moves within the mobile payments space, as this area is gaining new and powerful entrants with each passing week, and competition for the lead positions is growing at an explosive rate.
