Huawei has joined forces with MTN South Africa to launch Direct Carrier Billing, a seamless and secure payment method that allows users to make purchases using their mobile phones. The service,which was unveiled on Thursday,will allow users to make purchases on Huawei Mobile Services, including Huawei AppGallery, Huawei Video, Huawei Music, Huawei Themes and Huawei Mobile Cloud.

Ernst Fonternel, chief digital officer of MTN South Africa, said MTN recently reached 100 million active data customers across 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, which shows their customers are adopting digital offerings. He welcomed the partnership with Huawei, adding MTN is looking to meet digital demand with fresh offerings that will add value to their customers.

"We are proud to partner with Huawei to offer our customers the simplicity of purchasing from the various Huawei Mobile Services with prepaid airtime or postpaid add to bill. As we continue to roll out our 5G network, we believe the demand for smarter apps will increase and we want to ensure our customers enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life in an easy, convenient and safe way," Fonternel said.

Adam Xiao, managing director of Huawei Mobile Services in the Middle East and Africa, said users are at the heart of everything they do and Huawei is looking at ways to increase customers' overall experience with their products.

"I am excited about this DCB partnership with MTN, as this new additional method of online payment is not only hassle free, but also so much more convenient," Xiao said.

The DCB service on Huawei devices will first be available on the MTN network, and then will be rolled out later to other networks.