Boku, the world’s largest direct carrier billing mobile payments company, is pleased to announce an expansion to bring direct carrier billing to Windows Store customers in two premier European markets: the UK and Italy. As part of Microsoft’s integration with Boku, Windows 10 customers in the UK on O2 and in Italy on Wind will be able to use their mobile account as a payment option when making purchases in the Windows Store. Customers in these markets can make purchases across the full range of Windows 10 devices, including mobile phones, tablets, PCs, or laptops.

Jon Prideaux, CEO of Boku commented: “Microsoft is a superb partner for Boku, and our relationship has been made even stronger with the addition of UK and Italy.

“In a matter of months, our agreement with Microsoft has expanded from one major developed market to five, and covers all Windows 10 devices; from phones and tablets, to desktop computers. This rapid expansion, with much more to come, is proof positive that carrier billing is becoming the world’s preferred alternative payment, regardless of consumer access to credit or bank cards.”

OS app stores are predicted to be the largest revenue-generating segment for carrier billing by 2017 (Ovum, 2015), with Microsoft being one of the leading players in the segment. Windows 10 is also seeing steady growth globally, having already been installed on more than 350 million devices.

In the Windows Store, Microsoft customers can easily set up their account to use direct carrier billing as the default payment method. Once a phone number has been authenticated and saved, customers are free to purchase all types of digital content - apps, software, games, music and video - on any Windows device and have the charges go straight to their mobile operator account. Best of all, once direct carrier billing is enabled as a payment instrument, all future purchases in Windows Store will be conveniently debited from a prepaid balance or added to the monthly phone bill automatically.