Ooredoo, the Qatar-based telecom provider, is introducing charge-to-mobile services for the first time in Oman, allowing Omani smartphone users to buy premium apps by charging them to their Ooredoo accounts.
Paying for apps through the mobile bill replaces the need for Ooredoo’s Omani smartphone customers to use a credit card for purchases. The new hassle-free purchases are made through deductions from recharge balances or by adding the additional fees to monthly bills.
Ooredoo aims to offer customers an easier and more convenient way to access the latest mobile apps, without the need to whip out the plastic.
This move comes as Oman continues efforts to become a knowledge-based society, including a major drive to grow the mobile app market.
“Needing to use a credit card and even having to enter personal data, or use online payment gateways, is not always possible or convenient to customers,” Feras Al Shaikh, Ooredoo’s director of consumer sales, said. “Mobile payments are the latest way to pay for a number of services globally and we have already secured several of the most popular platforms.”
Al Shaikh said that frequent mobile app users will feel the impact of the new services immediately as Ooredoo and other telecom providers in Oman look for ways to offer services with more convenience.
“The level of credit card use in Oman is quite low when it comes to purchasing apps, compared to other countries across the region,” Al Shaikh said. “Therefore this new service is not only a convenience driven development in our service, but a strategic advancement for the Omani market overall.”
