It looks like the updated Google Play Store might bring in support for operator billing when it finally rolls out in India.
Google has updated the payment options to include an option for setting up operator billing for Indian operators in addition to the existing Debit and Credit card payment options. While the option doesn't work at the time of filing this report, the presence of the option indicates that operator billing might be enabled once the Store officially rolls out in India.
We got our hands on the new Play Store through an installation file(APK) available on the Internet. While trying to purchase a paid app, we expanded the app purchase dialog box/ card to see the Payment Options prompt. We discovered that in addition to our previously used cards, there was an option to add a new credit or debit card and another one to 'Set up Airtel billing account'. On selecting the Airtel billing account option (on both 3G and Wi-Fi networks) we got a 'Could not connect to mobile network' error. We repeated the same steps with a Vodafone connection where the Play Store offered us an option to set up a 'Sterling Cellular billing account' but the option did not work.
Google
started rolling out a new revamped version of its apps and content destination, Google Play Store, last week. The new update is expected to hit all devices over the next few weeks.
Of late, Google has upped its game in the Indian market with the launch of multiple content store including
Movies and
Books in the Indian market. It has also started
offering the Nexus 7 tablet through the Play Store. We won't be surprised if Google has finalised a deal to offer telco billing with Indian telecom operators. However, it also might be possible that Google removes this option when it rolls out in India as it could be part of the standard app code.