Zain Iraq subscribers can now pay for Google Play services and apps as part of their monthly phone bills, with direct carrier billing on Google Play, now integrated by DOCOMO Digital, the world’s preeminent mobile commerce enabler.
Carrier billing is an increasingly popular mode of payment for digital services especially in emerging markets, as it allows faster and frictionless transactions in app stores such as Google Play, while providing transparency and control over purchases for subscribers.
“This partnership with DOCOMO Digital to enable direct carrier billing on Google Play is in line with our mission to provide a superior service experience. The idea is to make it easier for our customers to enjoy digital content and give them more control over their app store transactions.”, said Ali Al-Zahid, Zain Iraq CEO.
“DOCOMO Digital is committed to removing friction in mobile commerce transactions for the subscribers of our partners like Zain. Our state-of-the-art platform is purpose-built to make integrations with app stores, such as Google Play, happen for our telco partners quickly and reliably, reducing the investment of time and effort from their internal teams. We have a long-standing relationship with the Zain group in the Middle East region and we are happy to see our partnership in Iraq grow beyond digital content.”, said Jonathan Kriegel, DOCOMO Digital’s CEO.
This launch in Iraq follows the company-wide agreement reached at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in early 2018, between DOCOMO Digital and Zain Group, one of the largest mobile operators in the Middle East and Africa region. The agreement will allow Zain’s 46.9 million users, access to content from different platforms and the ability to pay for this content in a secure and simple way as part of their monthly phone bills, leveraging DOCOMO Digital’s digital marketing expertise and direct carrier billing platform. Zain operates in eight countries in the region. The DOCOMO Digital kids and gaming content platforms are already live for Zain’s subscribers in Iraq.