Next week, Fortumo’s team will be going to Mobile World Congress for the eleventh time. Our booth is located at Hall 8.1, Stand no 8.1 J51 so drop by or get in touch if you want to set up a meeting.

2018 was a strong growth year for merchants in traditional segments such as gaming and dating. At the same time, new segments including digital publishing, online marketplaces and transportation are giving carrier billing more attention as it provides consumers with the simplest online payment experience possible. On the bundling front, we’ll also have some pretty exciting news to share soon.

We aim to me a long-term partner for both our telcos and merchants in growing their user base, revenue and customer loyalty. If you want to explore using Fortumo’s platform for growing your business, let’s meet up in Barcelona.

Don’t be the guy who can’t take a good deal. There’s probably a very sad millionaire out there who has been trying to give away her money to countless lost relatives around the world and no-one gives her money for bank transfers. Using our exclusive FREE 0-click scam bingo, you can spot a great deal from miles away.

In all seriousness though, if someone wants to cut you an amazing deal or give away expensive stuff for free, it’s probably a scam. If hunky young lads or lusty ladies are dying to chat you up, it’s probably also a scam (sorry). If you are offered anything valuable with zero effort - yet again, scam.

The battle against scammers seems never-ending. Australian telco Optus recently got a 10M dollar fine for misleading customers who unknowingly purchased or subscribed to content via the telco's direct billing service. US Federal Communications Commission is also taking an iron fist policy on (mobile) phone cramming.

As a mobile payments company, we’ve seen - and turned down - all kinds of shady businesses. Sadly for companies offering these kinds of deals, 10+ years in the industry has made us pretty good lie detectors.

But since it’s better to be safe than sorry, take a look at this scam bingo. If you hit any of them, there’s a reason to be suspicious.

This case study looks at how Aftonbladet (part of Schibsted Media Group) uses telco solutions for subscriber and revenue growth. Aftonbladet, one of the leading daily newspapers in Sweden, has integrated Fortumo’s direct carrier billing platform to collect payments from its readers.

Carrier billing provides Aftonbladet’s readers with an accessible and simple payment experience: any mobile device owner can subscribe to the newspaper in just a few clicks. This has resulted in carrier billing increasing Aftonbladet’s organic user growth.

Aftonbladet readers can subscribe to the online Aftonbladet Plus and Aftonbladet Plus Premium services, which gives them access to premium articles, consumer tests, travel guides, unique offers and discounts. Readers can subscribe to Aftonbladet either by using their credit card, Klarna or carrier billing.

Download the case study below to find out how Aftonbladet uses direct carrier billing for subscription revenue growth.

Dating apps have come to stay (for now, anyways). When Tinder revolutionized the dating scene over five years ago, many people were sceptical about the rise of this new technosexual era. It was predicted that dating through apps can’t lead to long-term relationship success.

The time has proved if not the opposite, then at least that these fears did not come true. Just two years after launching in 2012, Tinder was registering more than a billion "swipes" a day. Even tech giants such as Facebook have become interested in the dating scene after seeing Tinder’s success. There are 200M users on Facebook who list their relationship status as “single.”

Dating apps are now a firmly established part of the dating scene. These include Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and a range of others suited to different tastes. The basis of these apps is simple. Users can create a profile by uploading several photos, along with a short text description. This becomes visible to other users who can then ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ the profile.

In this report, we give an overview of how carrier billing fits into the existing monetization strategy of dating services. We profile the markets with the biggest potential for carrier billing, also highlighting end-user spending trends for each market. Finally, the report explains how mobile operators - often the biggest consumer-facing digital companies in their country - can help dating services increase user acquisition and revenue through marketing support, once a dating service provider has decided to implement carrier billing.

Enter your contact details below and download the report immediately!

This report profiles the performance of direct carrier billing globally during 2018. We have summarized the growth of direct carrier billing in Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America, while also bringing out the fastest growing countries in each of the regions.

The aggregated carrier billing data presented in this report is based on merchants using Fortumo’s Web SDK, Hosted DCB and Payments API payment products.

2018 was the year of regulations for the digital ecosystem. Both PSD2 and GDPR became active in the European Union, with other countries and regions of the world looking to implement similar rules.

For merchants using carrier billing, this was a positive change as carrier billing is the payment method which requires the least amount of consumer data for processing transactions, while providing simplicity for consumers.

Looking ahead, we see carrier billing continue to grow. Existing segments (gaming, social networks, streaming and app stores) continue to roll out new telco partnerships. At the same time, the improvement of commercial and technical capabilities of telcos enable carrier billing to be used also by segments including transportation, ticketing, marketplaces and financial services.

Which countries saw the biggest growth in carrier billing during the past year? Enter your information below, download the report and find out.