Mobile payments company Bango PLC has implemented direct carrier billing for Google Play on behalf of Idea Cellular in India. For the first time, Android users in India will be able to charge Google Play purchases to their phone bill, a Bango press release said.

Idea is the sixth largest mobile operator in the world. Its 182 million subscribers can now use DCB to pay for apps, games, music, movies and much more from Google Play, charging the cost to their phone bill in one click.

India is the world's third largest smartphone market. With the launch of direct carrier billing for Google Play, Idea subscribers now have a secure payment method that works on pre- and post-paid mobile billing plans, both on the Idea data network and over Wi-Fi.

The Bango Payment Platform enables the app store to maintain a standard technical and operational model for carrier-billed payments everywhere, with Bango handling local market variations to ensure that stores can scale payments quickly and consistently, the release said


"Taking Google Play carrier billing to India is a major milestone for Bango," said company CEO Ray Anderson. "We are pleased to provide Idea's 182 million subscribers with a universal payment method so they can enjoy the complete app store experience, and to expand the reach of carrier billing in the Google Play store."

In other emerging markets, Bango has reported a more than 10-fold increase in content sales following the launch of carrier billing. According to the release, Bango boasts more live deployments of app store carrier billing than any other provider.