[February 22, 2018] |
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DOCOMO Digital Partners with Safaricom to Launch the First App Store Integration with the World's Most Popular Mobile Money Service
Global mobile commerce enabler, DOCOMO
Digital has partnered with Safaricom
to give customers the option to pay for content on the Google
Play Store using M-PESA.
The integration, which is powered by DOCOMO Digital's mobile commerce
enabling platform using Google (News - Alert) Play's payment API, allows M-PESA
customers to use the mobile money service to pay for goods and services
from the app store.
The service is available to more than 27 million M-PESA customers in
Kenya with an Android (News - Alert) smartphone or tablet. From today, customers
matching this criteria can purchase content and products from the Google
Play Store and pay for them using M-PESA. The solution seamlessly
combines Google Play with the M-PESA purchase experience that Safaricom
customers are used to when paying for goods and services.
Hiroyuki Sato, CEO of DOCOMO Digital, commented: "One of our biggest
goals is to break down barriers and develop ways in which the 5 billion
global adult popultion can engage with the digital ecosystem. M-PESA
has long been an innovator and leader in the mobile money space, and we
are very excited to partner with them to bring this service to market.
First steps like this are absolutely essential on the journey to
connecting consumers, merchants, operators and service providers
together to create a fair and inclusive ecosystem for everybody."
The M-PESA and Google Play Store service will ensure that users are able
to buy apps and games in Play Store, using their mobile money wallet.
Joseph Ogutu, Director of Strategy, Safaricom, said: "Partnerships
have been instrumental in deepening the convenience and value of M-PESA
to our customers. Today's partnership will empower our customers to
access Google Play content and further underlines our commitment to
providing more choice and convenience to them."
Mahir Sahin, Head of Africa, Android Partnerships, Google, said: "We
are thrilled to partner with Safaricom to bring Google Play carrier
billing to Kenya. M-PESA has successfully demonstrated how important it
is to offer financial services to the unbanked and deliver financial
inclusion. Carrier billing is very important to the developer ecosystem
in markets where credit card penetration is low. With this
partnership M-PESA will play a critical role in the app
ecosystem."
About DOCOMO Digital DOCOMO Digital is a provider of a
global payments platform to leading OTTs, merchants and content
providers. It is a fully owned subsidiary of the Japanese mobile
operator NTT (News - Alert) DOCOMO. DOCOMO Digital is headquartered in London but is a
global company having presence in 35 offices across six continents.
About Safaricom Safaricom transforms lives. We provide
voice, data, financial services and enterprise solutions for a range of
subscribers, small businesses and government, using a variety of
platforms. We delight over 29.5 million subscribers, providing over
200,000 touch points for its customers and offering over 100 different
products under our portfolio. Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange
and with annual revenues in excess of Kshs 200 Billion, Safaricom
invested Kshs 38 billion in infrastructure this year, providing over 80%
of Kenya's population with 4G and 3G coverage and providing 2G coverage
to 95% of Kenyans. Safaricom has harnessed its proprietary fibre
infrastructure to build a dedicated enterprise business, which provides
managed IT services to clients in the East African region. Safaricom
pioneered commercial mobile money transfer globally through M-PESA, the
most successful service of its kind anywhere in the world. Launched in
March 2007, M-PESA now has over 27.8 million customers and over 148,000
M-PESA Agent outlets countrywide. For more news, please visit: http://www.safaricom.co.ke/press-release For
media-ready photos, visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/safaricom_pr
Google Play is a trademark of Google LLC.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180222005746/en/
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