Ooredoo Myanmar is launching direct carrier billing in the market with Fortumo.
The partnership will allow Ooredoo’s customers to 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.
“Carrier billing gives subscribers a better online experience as they can seamlessly access and enjoy the content that they love,” 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 Koppel.
