Telenor Bills for Google Play Purchases

FORNEBU, Norway -- In November last year, Telenor and Google launched a global agreement to make it even easier for users to purchase apps and games on their mobile phones without the need for a credit card. Today's announcement is the first concrete initiative based on the agreement presented by Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas in Hong Kong last year.

According to Rolv-Erik Spilling, SVP and Deputy Head of Digital services in Telenor: "This launch is the consequence of Google and Telenor's strategic partnership around the Android(TM) ecosystem, which is driven by the vision to add value for the customers. There are more than 675,000 apps and game available on Google Play, and Telenor's app panel will carefully select a maximum of 50 apps which they will recommend exclusively for their Android users. This will enable Telenor customers to easily discover better and richer content opportunities."

The agreement with Google also includes the possibility of purchasing apps instantly and charging it to the operator bill. A survey by Opinium of more than 2,000 UK and German smartphone users concludes that 37 per cent of app users pay using operator billing. This shows a growing preference for charging payments to the phone bill rather than to cards or PayPal.

Telenor Group (Nasdaq: TELN)