Bango expands into Asia

Taken from paymenteye.com 's article

Bango expands into Asia

27 Jul 15 | Author Ben Rabinovich
 
Bango plc, a mobile payments company headquartered in Cambridge, UK, has completed seven mobile payment agreements with Mobile Network Operators across Asia. This includes launching carrier billing routes for Indosat and XL in Indonesia, and Taiwan Star in Taiwan. The agreements will allow users to pay for music, movies and other entertainment media in mobile app stores such as Google Play or the Microsoft Windows Phone Store by putting the costs on their phone bills.

Asia has been a particularly active market recently, reflecting the huge appetite for smartphones and internet connectivity amongst young consumers in the region. In fact, the top five countries based on net additions of mobile subscriptions are all based in Asia. India has had over 26 million, followed by China with over 8 million, Myanmar (over 5 million), Indonesia (over 4 million) and Japan (over 4 million).

“The smartphone and app phenomenon has been extraordinary across Asia… In addition to the progress made in Asia already this year, we are working with operators in Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Japan to deploy the Bango Platform in these markets,” said Ray Anderson, Bango CEO.

Indosat case

Indosat is a leading mobile operator in Indonesia, where the smartphone market is growing rapidly, having seen growth of 154% in the 12 months to July 2014.

Indosat has used the Bango Payment Platform to launch one-click payment for Google Play, Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry World. Bango’s partnership with Indosat is a long-term, strategic relationship, which demonstrates the continued benefit of a single point of integration to reach the range of app stores. Indosat was integrated into the Bango Payment Platform in 2012, and initially activated carrier billing for users of BlackBerry World and then Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store. In 2014 Indosat activated Google Play through Bango. The Bango Payment Platform manages the complexities of launching mobile commerce in a fast-developing market such as Indonesia, including compliance with local tax and regulatory requirements, as well as support for local currency (Rupiah). The result is an unrivalled speed to market and revenue.

After the Windows Phone Store activation in 2013, President Director & CEO of Indosat, Alexander Rusli said “we are happy to be partnering with Bango to make operator billing in Indonesia attractive for app stores and content providers. This partnership between Indosat and Bango is the first of its kind in Indonesia. This shows our commitment to providing the best value and experience for Indosat customers. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Bango, extending the reach of frictionless payment to all.”