Smart Direct Carrier Billing Solution to Open new income streams for developers

A new direct carrier billing service from Smart Communications will now open new income streams for the growing number of developers in the Philippines.

Smart DevNet shared Fortumo in the DevCon Summit 2017

Smart Developer Network (Smart DevNet) introduced the platform of international mobile payment provider Fortumo which is the network's direct carrier billing partner since 2014. Fortumo gives developers the ability to utilize mobile operator billing for their in-app and web purchases.

Through this kind of billing solution, mobile subscribers can make their in-app and web purchases by using their cellphone load without a bank account or credit card. This solves the problem of financial inclusion in the Philippines. Only 63.8% of cities and municipalities in the country utilize banking services.

Visa released a recent study wherein the results showed that credit card or debit card usage for personal purchases in the Philippines only account for 9% of the population. It is a huge difference compared to Singapore's 50%, Malaysia's 30% and Thailand's 16%. This is surprising since the Philippines is still one of the fastest growing markets in South East Asia according to IDC.

Paul Pajo, Smart Head of Partnerships and DevNet Chief Evangelist, stated this about Smart and Fortumo's partnership:

The good thing is Fortumo is already integrated with Smart, so you can start earning with your app using our airtime credits. This makes carrier billing a viable option for those who don’t have credit or debit cards—and a lucrative one for developers, who may reach more users because of this service.

He further added this:

It’s a strict revenue sharing agreement. As this is a self-service system, there is no need to sign contracts with Smart and Fortumo.

Smart has been pushing their support to the local developer community through Smart DevNet. They have been a regular partner and contributor of Developer Connect Philippines in making the biggest developer conference in the Philippines, the DevCon Summit, posiible.

Along with Smart, this year PLDT Innolab and other partners also helped sponsor the summit. With the "Changing the Game" theme in place the DevCon Summit 2017 showcased techs and topics such as analytics, A.I., blockchain, Cyber-Security and DevOps. The summit had 6 keynotes, 4 panel discussions and 24 breakout sessions throughout its 2-day duration.