After Vodafone, Nokia joins hands with Idea for integrated billing

After Vodafone, Nokia joins hands with Idea for integrated billing 

Idea and Vodafone customers can pay Rs 50, Rs 99 and Rs 250 for 7, 30 and 90 days of Nokia Music service.

Nokia India has announced partnership with Idea Cellular for operator billing for its music and apps store. So now Idea Cellular subscribers can pay for the Nokia Music and other applications through their Idea postpaid bill or get it deducted from their prepaid balance.

This move is expected to increase content consumption on Nokia devices as many users either do not have a credit card or are reluctant to use it to make purchases online.
Nokia recently also tied-up with Vodafone for operator billing service for its music service. A range of Nokia Asha and Lumia devices come with the bundled unlimited music service subscription ranging from several months to a year. On expiry, Idea and Vodafone consumers can now renew subscriptions for Rs 50 which will be valid for 7 days; Rs 99 for 30 days, and 90 days for Rs 250.

"We are delighted to be working with Idea Cellular, pioneers in espousing the mobile internet, on the Nokia Store and Nokia Music, properties which are leaders in their respective categories in India. This partnership democratises access to the best local and global content by making it available across both Nokia smartphone and feature phones with affordable pricing and a seamless payment experience. We believe integrated operator billing is very relevant for a market like India where penetration of alternate billing mechanisms is limited," said Viral Oza, director marketing, Nokia India.

The Nokia Store currently offers over 120,000 pieces of content on Nokia phones. This includes applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services among others.

Globally, the Nokia Store drives more than 15 million downloads per day and India currently sees over 80 million downloads per month. According to a recent Analysys Mason report, Nokia Store is the largest app store in India and accounted for 50 per cent of all app downloads from India in 2011.

The Nokia Music Store is the largest online repository of legal digital music in India with a catalogue of over 4.5 million DRM (digital rights management) free songs, including across 16 Indian languages, and 1.4 million song downloads a day.