Digital Publishing Technology - State of Digital Publishing

Indonesia’s leading digital publisher Tempo and the mobile technology company Fortumo are today launching a direct carrier billing (DCB) partnership. 255 million subscribers of Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo, XL Axiata, 3 and Smartfren can now subscribe to Tempo’s digital publications by easily charging the payments to their phone bill. Tempo offers any prepaid and postpaid mobile user the option to upgrade their reading experience by subscribing to its Silver, Gold and Platinum packages ranging from IDR 9,900 ($0.6) to IDR 15,900 ($1) per week. The purchase with carrier billing can be made through Tempo’s website. “Not all of the potential buyers of Tempo have a credit card to make a transaction. Therefore, the use of carrier billing is ultimately aimed at making it easier for readers to get exclusive and quality news from Tempo. Carrier billing also allows readers to subscribe for shorter periods, e.g. every week. Next, we will also explore daily subscription periods and even per-article payments,” said Prathita S Putra, Head of Digital Business at Tempo Media Group. “From a number of potential partners, Tempo sees Fortumo having an easier transaction flow. So that, the acceptance of the credit-cut payment model will be more quickly accepted by loyal readers of Tempo,“ added Putra. “A simple checkout process is critical for digital content providers to increase their payment conversion rates and as a result, their paying user base and revenue. Carrier billing helps achieve this as its easy, user-friendly checkout process combined with wide availability makes it a great way to collect payments on mobile devices. We are excited to help Tempo collect payments for its digital content in Indonesia and look forward to growing the partnership,” added Andrea Boetti, VP of Global Business Development at Fortumo. Tempo launched carrier billing through Fortumo’s Hosted DCB. Hosted DCB connects Tempo with the local mobile operators’ carrier billing platforms while Fortumo manages the checkout flows and localization. This allowed Tempo to launch carrier billing with minimal development effort, as one integration enables payment capabilities with all mobile operators in the country. In addition to Hosted DCB, Tempo utilizes Fortumo’s Subscription Engine, which provides end-to-end user lifecycle management for recurring payments. The Subscription Engine manages subscription activations, renewals and terminations on behalf of the merchant. The solution lets merchants easily launch marketing promotions (such as discounts and free trials) while reducing subscriber churn through built-in grace period and failed payment retry mechanisms. In Indonesia, only 2% of people have a credit card while 60% of the population owns a smartphone. This creates a challenge for digital merchants as the majority of people accessing online content do not have means to pay for premium services. Carrier billing resolves this issue by allowing any prepaid or postpaid SIM card owner to charge purchases directly to their phone bill. Additional data on carrier billing and the digital ecosystem of Indonesia and other Asian countries is available in Fortumo’s Asia market report.