Sony LIV partners with Fortumo to offer easy payment solutions to its users 

Sony LIV, Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) premium digital video entertainment service has associated with the mobile payments company, Fortumo. Fortumo will now power payments for Sony LIV users. On account of this association, more than 580 million subscribers of Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Aircel can access videos and movies on Sony LIV by charging payments to their mobile operator’s bill.

Fortumo’s carrier billing solution will enable users to choose specific premium videos or movies that they wish to watch and pay for content using their phone – the payment is either deducted from their prepaid SIM card or charged to the phone bill in case of a postpaid contract. With carrier billing, the users do not need to set up any additional accounts or enter private information to make payments.

Uday Sodhi, EVP and Head -Digital Business, MSM: “Direct Carrier billing helps viewers of Sony LIV to pay easily for their content consumption without a debit or a credit card. Fortumo was identified as the perfect synergistic match for Sony LIV due to its impressive background of powering payments for some of Asia Pacific’s leading digital content players. The tie-up with Fortumo will enable us to take our Video-On-Demand (VoD) service to an even larger audience.”

Sanjay Sinha, Head of Fortumo India said, “India has one of the lowest credit card penetration rates globally while smartphone ownership is growing rapidly. This creates a situation where users can access content online but are not able to pay for it. Fortumo solves the challenge by enabling payments for any phone owner. We are excited to partner with MSM.”

According to a forecast by Gfk, India is ranked as the biggest smartphone growth market by value in 2015. Meanwhile, credit cards are available to only 4% and debit cards to 22% of the country’s population. This creates a difficult challenge for online and mobile merchants trying to generate revenue through traditional payment methods in the country. With Fortumo, Sony LIV will simplify the payment process for its large and dedicated user base in the country.

Fortumo powers payments for a number of leading digital content providers in the Asia Pacific region, including Box TV, Ditto TV, Tensports and Gaana. Recently, Fortumo’s platform was implemented by the game developer Rovio and mobile operator Idea to collect payments for Rovio’s games in India.

Source: Fortumo – Sony LIV partners with Fortumo to offer easy payment solutions to its users

---