iflix and mobile payments firm Fortumo have launched direct carrier billing for iflix users, which number about 620 million people across Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. Users can now subscribe to iflix and enjoy access to unlimited video entertainment by using their airtime balance or monthly phone bill to pay for the service.
Carrier billing for iflix via Fortumo has been made available for subscribers of the mobile operators Smartfren and 3 (Indonesia), Telenor and Zong (Pakistan), Smartand Globe Telecom (the Philippines) and DTAC (Thailand). iflix and Fortumo expect to announce support for more carriers in Asia as well as the Middle Eastern & African region over the upcoming months.
In the emerging markets where iflix operates, less than 10% of people own a credit card while smartphone ownership is already around 40% of the population. This means direct carrier billing allows a significantly larger portion of people the ability to pay for iflix subscriptions.
“As we continue rapid expansion into emerging markets globally, we are confident that Fortumo will provide seamless payment integration in our markets”, said Tim Whelan, iflix global head of payments.
iflix has leveraged Fortumo’s Payments API to expand its payment reach across its Asian markets, allowing iflix to roll out direct carrier billing for multiple mobile operators at once using Fortumo’s pre-existing integrations with the carriers.
iflix can simultaneously use advanced features of direct carrier billing such as free trials dynamic pricing with a fully iflix-branded payment flow to increase user acquisition and payment conversion.
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If Smartfren has already partnered with OTT streaming operator iflix for video streaming service, I would question how TV2U fits in this space, as OTT industry is very competitive, and if iflix has already taken market share why the need for TV2U?
TV2 Price at posting:
1.3¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
