Mobile payments company Fortumo has recently announced that it has expanded its carrier billing services to Tanzania, allowing mobile phone owners to make payments for digital services.
Carrier billing allows any mobile owner to make payments through their carrier and either deduct payments from their airtime balance or charge them to their monthly phone bill.
Fortumo services app stores including Google Play, digital media providers including Spotify, Sony, HOOQ, Gaana and gaming companies like EA Mobile, Gameloft and Kinguin with carrier billing, local market insights and facilitates relationships with mobile operators.
In Addition to Tanzania, Fortumo has also recently launched, in Ghana and Algeria, in Africa.
“Africa’s digital ecosystem is quickly growing and we are seeing strong interest from international merchants who want to expand their activities there. While each day a large amount of new smartphone owners are coming online, collecting payments from these users has so far been a challenge. Our expansion in Africa gives locals better access to digital mobile services such as games, music, and video while helping merchants generate additional revenue from the region,” said Gerri Kodres, Chief Business Officer at Fortumo.
All three markets where Fortumo has launched have extremely low credit card penetration: Algeria at 6%, Ghana at 0.9% and Tanzania at 0.7%.
This means while people can access online content, most of them are unable to make payments for paid features of these services.
In the Middle Eastern and Africa, carrier billing through Fortumo is already available to more than 600 million people in 24 countries.
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