Idea and Microsoft have joined hands to debut operator billing. The collaboration will enable Idea Cellular subscribers to purchase paid apps from Windows Store through operator billing.
The operator billing support will be available to all Idea subscribers on all Lumia devices and Windows-based smartphones across brands. The amount will be either added to their monthly mobile phone bills in case of their post paid users or will be deducted from their balance in case of prepaid users. Idea claims it is the first telecom company in the country to offer integrated operator billing on Windows Store.
“This development eases a consumer’s access to premium apps on Windows Store through a convenient purchase process. We are happy to be the first operator to partner with Microsoft for Windows Store and offer our consumers the ease to download a range of local and global applications without worrying about the mode of payment,”
chief marketing officer of Idea Sashi Shankar said.
The Windows Store currently offers over 550,000 apps and has seen over 8 billion cumulative downloads to date globally. Idea Cellular has 147.95 million subscribers as on November 2014 according to telecom regulator TRAI, of which about 34 million are data users.