Spotify Expands Carrier Billing in Asia with Fortumo

Fortumo, the international mobile payment provider, announced its partnership with Spotify today. As part of this partnership, Fortumo has introduced a carrier billing program specifically for Spotify users in Indonesia and Philippines.

“Asia leads the growth of online content consumption and digital merchants are increasingly focusing on user acquisition in the region. Collecting payments from these users is not easy however, as most people do not own a credit card. Carrier billing solves this problem by letting any mobile phone owner make online payments. We are very happy to help Spotify grow and monetize their user base in Asia,” said Andrea Boetti, Vice President of Global Business Development at Fortumo.

“As a brand, we are always looking at ways for music fans to conveniently access Spotify Premium. We are excited to be working with Fortumo, whose services will increase the current payment options we have for our customers. The successful work we’ve done with Fortumo in Asia sits well in our wider plan to offer Spotify customers various payment methods relevant to them, and specific to their location,” said Patrik Falk, Head of Direct Subscriptions for Spotify at Asia Pacific.

Patrik adds, “With Spotify Premium, you will be able to play your favourite music on demand, and offline, with no interruption of ads in between.”

Spotify uses Fortumo’s Payments API which allows merchants to take advantage of the bigger reach of carrier billing while preserving features of card-based payment processing such as free trial support, flexible pricing and control over the billing cycle. Merchant-branded checkout flows supported by the API increase user trust during the checkout process and authenticating the user over a data connection means payments can be completed in a few seconds.

Fortumo is the leading provider of carrier billing in Asia as its payment solutions are available to more than 1.6 billion consumers in 16 countries of the region. The company has offices in Beijing, Delhi, Singapore and Hanoi, providing merchants with local expertise and facilitating relationships with mobile operators.

In recent news from the region, Fortumo announced a partnership with Indosat in Indonesia. As part of the Spotify network, Fortumo also works with Smart and Globe in the Philippines.

Fortumo’s carrier billing platform is used by app stores (Google Play, Windows Phone Store), digital media providers (Sony, HOOQ, Gaana) and gaming companies (EA Mobile, Gameloft, Kinguin, Rovio). To enable carrier billing for these merchants, Fortumo has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators across the world.