With the growing smartphone market and app ecosystem booming, Microsoft mobile and Idea Cellular have undergone a partnership that will enable the telco’s 34 million data users to purchases apps and pay for them through monthly bills or prepaid balances.
Partnerships where telcos team up with app stores may work better in India where credit card adoption and use for making payments over mobile is far less than net banking or debit card usage. India is estimated to have about 19 million credit card users, but over 135 million use smartphones, according to sources.
An Idea Cellular customer can make the purchases from Microsoft's Windows Store and can buy an app or products within an app worth up to Rs. 300 in a single purchase, without keying in credit card details. Just a two-step authentication process will be required to ensure security of the transaction when using credit cards online. Idea Cellular has become the first operator in India to offer integrated operator billing on the Windows Store.
Experts estimate that App downloads in India is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 75-80%. Operator billing will help developers increase revenue, with total paid transactions rising eight times in emerging markets and three times in developed markets.
Idea Cellular is also working with Google Play and other app stores for introducing operator billing, while Microsoft Mobiles said it was looking at creating partnerships with other telcos including Airtel and Vodafone. Idea Cellular is the third largest telco with 147.95 million subscribers as on November 2014.
