Ooredoo, Fortumo extend carrier billing partnership to Myanmar

The telecom service provider in Myanmar, Ooredoo Myanmar and the mobile payments company Fortumo has launched a direct carrier billing partnership.

As a result of this partnership, all Ooredoo customers can now make payments for digital content including app stores, streaming services and games by charging purchases to their mobile account.

This is the second market where Fortumo has teamed up with Ooredoo, having launched carrier billing in Indonesia with the mobile operator in August 2016.

Ooredoo Myanmar’s goal is to be a leading digital brand with dynamic assets that can adapt from print to screen. Being a telecom service provider, Ooredoo will use its advanced technology to offer innovative services to its subscribers.

Vikram Sinha, CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar said, “Now is the digital era and all of us need to leverage on digital to have advancement in our daily life. Therefore, Ooredoo Myanmar partners with Fortumo because it is a leading global provider of direct carrier billing. We want to introduce the digital lifestyle to our Myanmar people to enjoy the seamless access for digital entertainment in their daily life. This partnership becomes the first carrier billing service in Myanmar.”

“Ooredoo is among the most forward-looking mobile operator groups in the world, constantly searching for ways to add more value to their subscribers. Carrier billing gives subscribers a better online experience as they can seamlessly access and enjoy the content that they love. We are excited to be working with Ooredoo Myanmar to enable new services for their subscribers and bring revenue to both the mobile operator as well as our merchants,” said Martin Koppel, CEO & Co-Founder of Fortumo.

Myanmar is a growing digital economy, with 70% of people owning a mobile device (according to GSMA Intelligence) and 97% of internet browsing originating from mobile devices (according to On Device Research). The recent boom in smartphone ownership is a result of the Ministry of Transport and Communication opening up the country's telecommunications market.

While smartphone penetration is growing rapidly, bank card ownership in the country is below 2% (according to World Bank) which means the majority of people cannot make online payments. Carrier billing resolves this problem as any prepaid or postpaid user can make payments by deducting the money from their mobile account. Due to lacking bank access, carrier billing in Myanmar also has the potential to be extended to physical services and goods.

“In other countries, we see consumers using mainly bank-based payments for mobile commerce, ridesharing, insurance and other modern digital services. Due to the lagging infrastructure of banks in Myanmar, mobile operators here could take the place of banks and Fortumo is ready to extend our partnerships with merchants from these categories into Myanmar,” added Martin Koppel.

Fortumo provides carrier billing to app stores including Google Play, digital media providers including Spotify, iflix, Sony, HOOQ, Gaana and gaming companies like EA Mobile, Gameloft and Kinguin, offers local market insights and facilitates relationships with mobile operators. To achieve this, the company has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators in 100+ countries across the world.