Payments operator Fortumo said that it will be introducing carrier billing to pay for services such as cab rides, movie tickets, and payment of insurance premiums. To begin with, the company will be introducing this in middle eastern countries and the service is expected to launch early next year. Carrier billing is a payment mechanism where users can pay for goods and services by deducting the charge from their prepaid phones or charging it to their monthly phone bill. This is important in India where most mobile users don’t have credit cards while debit card usage is low. However, Sanjay Sinha, country head for Fortumo in India, said that the company will not be introducing this service to India due to lack of regulatory clarity. "There are regulatory constraints in this market so we won't be able to move that forward in India right now," he told MediaNama in a phone call. "As far as our understanding is concerned, the regulations for carrier billing, the products which can use the service needs to be consumed on mobile. So currently for something like ride sharing or movie tickets, the definition of the regulation will have to be stretched right now," Sinha explained. This is significant as Fortumo had said that over 80% of payments for digital content in India is from mobile devices. Carrier billing offers the most frictionless payment service at present, though wallets come close. Online cab hailing companies like Uber have long been complaining that there isn't a seamless payment mechanism in…
