Boku, Microsoft Expand Partnership to U.K., Italy

Carrier billing provider Boku is expanding its partnership with Microsoft to customers in the U.K. and Italy.

Windows 10 users on the U.K.'s O2 network and Italy's Wind can pay using their mobile accounts when making purchases in the Windows Store on mobile phones, tablets, PCs, or laptops, Boku announced in an Aug. 11 news release.

"In a matter of months, our agreement with Microsoft has expanded from one major developed market to five," Jon Prideaux, CEO of Boku, said in the release, calling the expansion proof "carrier billing is becoming the world's preferred alternative payment, regardless of consumer access to credit or bank cards." Boku announced its partnership with Microsoft in December, initially through Sprint in the U.S. and Swisscom in Sweden.

To use direct carrier billing as the default payment method, Microsoft customers need to authenticate and save their phone number and the charges will go straight to their mobile operator account. Future purchases in the Windows Store will be debited from a prepaid balance or automatically added to the monthly phone bill.

Ovum research suggests operating systems' app stores could become the largest revenue-generating segment for carrier billing by 2017. Microsoft has reported steady global growth of Windows 10, which been installed on more than 350 million devices.