Microsoft and Idea Cellular have introduced operator billing on the Windows Store for Idea subscribers. This partnership enables Idea users on all Microsoft Lumia devices as well as all Windows-based smartphones across brands to access their favourite premium apps and games from the Windows Store and pay for them through integrated operator billing. The amount will be either added to their monthly mobile phone bills or deducted from their pre-paid balance, depending on their data plans.
With this announcement, Idea Cellular becomes the first operator in India to offer integrated operator billing on the Windows Store. This facility will make the consumer’s payment experience more seamless and will be a boon for those who do not own credit cards or are uncomfortable using them for online transactions.
According to Nikhil Mathur, Director – B2B & Operator Channels, Nokia India Sales Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobile Oy, “Microsoft’s partnership with Idea Cellular is a big step towards providing Indian consumers easy and simplified access to Windows Store content through operator billing. With smartphones becoming more affordable, adoption of mobile internet is witnessing an unprecedented growth and we are confident that this partnership will further accelerate growth for the app ecosystem with mobile internet users making a shift towards consuming premium apps and content on their devices.”
Speaking at the announcement, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular, said “Microsoft and Idea have had a long-standing and an extremely fruitful association, and this new venture will only strengthen our joint mission to offer enriched services to our consumers. This development eases a consumer’s access to premium apps on Windows Store through a convenient purchase process. We are happy to be the first operator to partner with Microsoft for Windows Store and offer our consumers the ease to download a range of local and global applications without worrying about the mode of payment.”
The Windows Store currently offers over 550,000 apps and enjoys a 66% YoY growth in the number of titles available with 8 billion cumulative downloads to date*. Globally, it offers 81 mobile operator billing connections in 46 markets with carriers representing 2.5 billion total subscribers*. Operator billing helps developers increase revenues and we have witnessed an increase of 8x per month for total paid transactions in emerging markets and 3x in developed markets.
