Now buy Android apps using prepaid balance if you are on Idea Cellular

Soon you will be able to buy apps or games from Google Play Store using your prepaid balance on your cellphone but that is if you are on Idea Cellular's network, the country's third largest network provider.

Google and Idea are expected to make the announcement on Thursday which according to experts will make digital purchases from the Play Store easier. Purchases may include books, movies and apps.

"We are in the process of adding direct carrier billing to Google Play in India on Idea Cellular so that people can more easily pay for their favourite content," ET quoted a Google spokesperson as saying. "We will have more news to share soon," the US search major said. A spokesperson for Idea also confirmed the partnership with Google.

The announcement assumes significance as Android from Google, which is the dominant applications store provider, will be able to further push its services business and help developers make more money via their apps.

The partnership took time as revenue sharing was a problem in this kind of a relationship which seems to have been solved. Earlier Idea had partnered with Microsoft for its mobile app store (Windows 10) and later formed another tieup with RoVio - the makers of Angry Birds.

However, the country's other leading telecom service providers - Airtel and Vodafone - have not tied up with any app stores yet.