Deutsche Telekom and Fortumo extend carrier billing partnership to Slovakia

Carrier billing provider Fortumo and Deutsche Telekom have launched direct carrier billing in Slovakia to allow 2 million customers of Slovak Telekom (DT Group) to make payments in app stores, for games and for digital content by charging the purchases to their mobile phone bill. Slovakia is the second country where the companies have launched a payments partnership, having introduced carrier billing in the Czech Republic in 2017.

The country's potential is shown by the fact that 55 percent of Slovaks already have a smartphone while only 17 percent own a credit card. This means the majority of people consuming online content are unable to make payments for premium services using traditional payment methods, which will be resolved by the carrier billing tool.

According to Superdata Research, carrier billing accounts for 20.9 percent of all digital gaming transactions in the CEE region while the share of bank cards is 18.1 percent. 

Fortumo provides carrier billing to app stores including Google Play, digital media providers including Spotify, iflix, Sony, HOOQ, Gaana and gaming companies like EA Mobile, Gameloft and Kinguin. The company has partnered with more than 350 mobile operators in more than 100 countries. In 2017, Fortumo launched a carrier billing partnership with Telenor in Serbia.