Google Play and Apple's App Store currently account for nearly 70% between operator storefronts and portals.
A report by Juniper research revealed that operator storefronts and portals currently accounted for 6% of content downloads globally.
Google Play and Apple's App Store currently account for nearly 70% between operator storefronts and portals, the report said.
Additionally, the rise in popularity of Over The Top (OTT) stores had led to many operators shutting down their own storefronts.
The research firm noted that by offering carrier billing to third-party storefronts, operators would more than offset the continued drop in portal revenues.
Storefronts, which have already incorporated carrier billing offerings, have seen a five to six times rise in conversion rates over credit card billing, in addition to a boost in average transaction values.
Juniper Research research director, Dr. Windsor Holden, said that while many operators have now abandoned the own-brand storefront approach, by leveraging their billing relationship with the end user they can retain a foothold in the content play.
"Simply by offering consumers a billing choice, monetisation rates will rise dramatically," Holden said.
The report also warned that carrier billing for higher value content would be less effective among prepaid users given the relatively low top-up levels in most markets.
According to the report, even though Google has over taken Apple in terms of app downloads on an partial basis, monetisation levels of Google's Android apps have been markedly lower.
Pay Per Download (PPD) is expected play an important role although in-app billing and freemiums have been the common business model, the report said.
Juniper Research previously reported that the launch of direct carrier billing applications through third-party storefronts has enabled operators to boost revenues generated through their content.
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