The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has allowed paying for a subscription to sticker packs in Viber (part of Rakuten Inc.) via own Smart-Money financial service for prepaid subscribers, the companies have said in a joint press release.

"This is the first experience of the collaboration of the messenger and the mobile payment service, which was implemented in Ukraine," the press service of the mobile operator said.

Users of the Smart Money service will be able to subscribe to all stickers in Viber for UAH 20 per month and access immediately to all collections of stickers, which has more than 500 pictures.

Usually, Viber users pay for each sticker pack separately, but one time at a price of UAH 52-54 per one sticker pack.

The service can be used by Kyivstar prepaid subscribers who have installed the Smart Money application, since payments are made from a mobile account.

"Launching a joint project with Viber is an important step for us. We are confident that such a partnership will help develop a culture of payments with mobile money and thus help citizens of Ukraine to strive for a cashless economy," Senior Business Development Manager at Kyivstar Olena Suvorova said.

According to Rakuten Viber, Ukrainians make about 4 million calls to Viber every day and send 11 million messages.

"For Viber, this is the first experience of such cooperation in Ukraine," Senior Director for Business Development in Europe, Africa and Middle East Atanas Raykov said.

Kyivstar also said that today, since the launch of the service in September 2018, 6.4 million transactions has been carried out, and the most popular services were: payment for telecommunication services, national lotteries, online purchases and payment for public transport.