Thanks to the agreement, WIND's 21 million subscribers will soon be able to quickly and conveniently send Western Union money transfer transactions directly from their phones using WIND's suite of services including apps and SMS.

Subscribers will be able to send money from prepaid, credit, and debit cards; recipients can pick up their funds in cash at more than 450,000 Western Union Agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world.

"This is an exciting alliance; one that makes it even easier for consumers in Italy to send money across borders and one that opens the door to broader financial inclusion," said Diane Scott, Chief Marketing Officer and President, Western Union Ventures. "Our goal is to allow people to send and receive money however, wherever and whenever they want. We are innovating new products and services that allow our customers to fund transactions however they choose — and this alliance with WIND is one example of that strategy."

"We are very proud to be the first mobile operator in Italy to provide our customers with an open loop Mobile Money Transfer service," declares Maximo Ibarra, Wind's business unit consumer director. "Our wide portfolio is enriched even further with this innovative service, which allows our customers to not only to communicate but also to send money across borders quickly and conveniently. These key elements reflect WIND's smart positioning and strategy, and the partnership with Western Union ensures our customers have access to a global Mobile Money Transfer service."

Western Union offers its Mobile Money Transfer service in Bangladesh, Canada, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Tanzania and the U.S. Western Union also has numerous agreements with other mobile operators and banks to introduce the service in the future.