Carrier billing on Google Play Store has long been discussed but nothing concrete has materalised until this week when Google Play Store introduced carrier billing with Idea cellular so that users can directly make in-app purchases which can be directly billed to their monthly cellular bills for postpaid users and through recharge coupons for prepaid users.
This is the first time Google has introduced direct carrier billing on its platform for India and with this integration it hopes to get more users to buy and enjoy digital content through smart devices. Idea is the third largest operator with 18.2 per cent revenue share wand over 165 million user base. Idea may get a few heads turning with this deal in the telecom sector and we hope to soon hear more such tie-ups with other operators.
The carrier billing is limited to Idea subscribers and they will merely have to choose the Idea billing option when prompted during the transaction. The benefits for the customer include two-click purchase with a fully secure payment option, as claimed by Idea and Google. A nominal convenience charge will be included in the final transaction.
Speaking on the occasion, Idea Cellular, CEO – corporate, P Lakshminarayana, said, “Idea has been at the forefront of the internet revolution and has built a robust network through an extensive 3G and now 4G rollout. With capabilities to provide wireless broadband services to nearly 880 million Indians, Idea is well poised to take the lead in the way content is served to an increasing army of digital savvy users. This tie up with Google Play creates a vast set of opportunities for Idea subscribers and also builds a secure gateway to the digital world.”
India is currently the world’s third largest smartphone market, and Android devices are ruling the charts. With credit card penetration in India being less than 3 per cent, it becomes very difficult for the a user to purchase digital content even if he wants to, when he has no credit / debit card access. And a low credit / debit card penetration even leads to limiting customers’ ability to purchase mobile content and services.
India is a different market when it comes to digital spending and Google too knows that a different approach is required when it comes to Indian users. In making it more spend friendly, Google had introduced Google Play prepaid vouchers through selected outlets and even reduced the minimum price of apps to Rs 10.
This is also not Idea’s first taste of carrier billing. Back in 2014, Idea had partnered with Microsoft to offer carrier billing on Windows Phone Store and then in 2015 it entered into a carrier billing agreement with Angry Birds developer Rovio where Idea users could download Angry Birds games via a co-branded portal and have in-built mechanism for charging from the users balance.
