20 December 2021

Bangladeshi mobile operator Robi Axiata has been added to mobile technology company Fortumo’s payments platform.

Merchants using the latter platform can now collect payments from more than 52 million Robi and Airtel subscribers through direct carrier billing.

Merchants connected to Fortumo’s platform can collect payments from Robi and Airtel subscribers through Fortumo’s Unified SDK. Unified SDK connects merchants to Robi and a network of hundreds of telcos and 30+ digital wallets through one integration. Fortumo hosts and localises Unified SDK checkout flows on its platform, making it simple and scalable for merchants to launch local payment methods across the world.

Martin Lips, chief commercial officer at Fortumo said that adding local payment methods is the main way merchants can achieve rapid revenue growth in emerging markets. “Our aim at Fortumo is to make launching those otherwise complex payment methods as simple as possible for merchants,” he said. “We are excited to partner with Robi/Airtel and help merchants grow in Bangladesh.”

In Bangladesh, credit card penetration is only 0.2% while 41% of people own a smartphone. This creates a problem for merchants in that there are many users able to access services but without a payment method to pay for premium content. Carrier billing solves the problem by allowing any mobile device owner to charge payments to their phone bill instead.