Estonia-based mobile payments provider Fortumo has struck direct carrier billing agreements with China Unicom and China Telecom, the country’s second- and third-largest mobile operator respectively.

Fortumo already has an agreement with market leader China Mobile, leading the firm to claim it’s “the first and only” mobile payments provider that can offer carrier billing for in-app purchases to all one billion-plus mobile subscribers in China.

Fortumo says western app developers struggle to enter the Chinese market because traditional payment methods, such as credit cards, are available to a few users on a fragmented basis.

Carrier billing can account for up to 75 per cent of all revenues generated from Android apps in China, says the firm.