Claro Argentina partners with DOCOMO Digital to boost mobile payments

The intention is to provide Samsung Galaxy users with access to apps and games through Direct Carrier Billing.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Claro Argentina, a leading mobile phone operator and part of the América Móvil group, has teamed up with DOCOMO Digital, one of the leading integrators of digital app stores, to facilitate the purchase of applications and content with direct carrier billing (DCB), within the Samsung Galaxy Store, using Claro's pre-paid or post-paid accounts.

Thanks to this integration, Claro offers its subscribers the possibility to purchase digital services (applications, games, etc.) on the Samsung Galaxy Store via their top-up balance (in the case of prepaid users) or via billing on the phone receipt as an additional charge (in the case of postpaid users), quickly and easily. Digital content consumption has increased and Claro is committed to simplifying the associated transactions.

According to the DOCOMO Digital's whitepaper on the Latin American digital ecosystem, less than half of Argentinians have a bank account¹  and thanks to the widespread mobile internet access, mobile phones are increasingly being used to make mobile payments, conduct online transactions, and pay bills. In addition, 40% of adults in the country made or received digital payments². It's no surprise that Argentina's e-commerce market will expand by 83 percent between 2018 and 2022, reaching US$19.2 billion.³ Within this, the mobile commerce segment will grow at an annual rate of 26%.

"At Claro, we're always looking for new ways to combine value propositions through conveniently available digital content and services. This cooperation with DOCOMO Digital and Samsung is critical for this, as these are our first steps into the virtual wallet sector, allowing our users to buy content without a credit card and at a local price," explains Julio Porras, CEO de Claro Argentina, Uruguay y Paraguay

"DOCOMO Digital is dedicated to making mobile purchases easier for our partners, such as Claro. Our platform is designed to allow large app stores, such as The Samsung Galaxy Store, to easily and efficiently integrate with our carrier partners without the need for using up internal resources. We're thrilled to see our relationship with América Móvil continue to blossom," said Jonathan Kriegel, CEO of DOCOMO Digital.

¹ BBVA. Financial inclusion is key for Argentina. Available online at: https://www.bbva.com/en/financial-inclusion-key-argentina/
² World Bank. Global Findex Database 2017
³ Worldpay. Global Payments Report 2018

About CLARO Argentina

CLARO Argentina is owned by América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: AMX) [NYSE: AMX]. AMOV (NASDAQ: AMOV) is a publicly traded company in the United States. With operations in 18 countries across the continent, [LATIBEX: XAMXL] is Latin America's largest telecommunications company. The Claro brand is well-known in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

For more information, visit https://www.claro.com.ar/

About Samsung Galaxy Appstore

Samsung Galaxy Store is an app store used for devices manufactured by Samsung Electronics that was launched in September 2009. The service is primarily shipped on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Samsung Gear and feature phones (such as the Samsung REX and Duos) The store is available in 125 countries and it offers apps for Android, Tizen, Windows Mobile and Bada platforms. Apps from this store are updated by notifying the user via the Samsung Push Service, which has been installed in over one billion smartphones over the years.

For more information, visit https://www.samsung.com/latin/apps/galaxy-store/

About DOCOMO Digital

DOCOMO Digital is the mobile commerce-related business of NTT DOCOMO, one of the world's leading mobile carriers. We partner with carriers, merchants, app stores, OTT services and payment providers globally. Our payments portfolio solves the challenges of scale, customer acquisition, regulation, and complexity for our partners. With teams based in fifteen countries, we enable telecom carriers to grow their digital revenues while improving customer loyalty and lifetime value. For digital brands, our platform and carrier bundling services catalyse acquisition of new subscribers, especially in emerging markets. And alternative payment methods (APMs) like carrier billing and e-wallets offer global merchants access to their consumers, with our simple API and international payment settlement facilities.

For more information, visit www.docomodigital.com or find us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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