1Pay expands its mobile payments service in Southeast Asia

Via this partnership, merchants using 1Pay will be enabled to collect payments from their users in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia by charging payments to the users’ phone bills.

This means that mobile phone users can make one-click payments through their mobile operator bill without the need for a credit card. Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have a relatively low credit card penetration, therefore the new solution might be an alternative for paying for digital goods. For example, Vietnam stands at 2 % in comparison with Singapore’s credit card penetration rate of 35 %. Also, within the Asian region, Indonesia credit card penetration is 2 % while the Philippines scored 3 %. Thailand credit card penetration is at 6 % of its population while Malaysia and Singapore scored 20 % and 35 % respectively, according to Fortumo emerging markets payment index.

With less than 10 million people in these countries having access to credit cards, a majority of smartphone owners are unable to pay for online content through traditional payment methods. For this reason, Vietnam mobile payments such as these are said to benefit an estimated 350 million mobile phone owners in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.