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Bharti Airtel and Western Union to Pilot Mobile Money Transfer in India

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Posted November 29, 2007

In a first-of-its-kind agreement, Bharti Airtel and Western Union
have decided to jointly develop and pilot a Mobile Money Transfer
service in India. This pioneering agreement will usher in the
possibility of sending money to India via a mobile phone. The Mobile
Money Transfer service is subject to regulatory approval.

According
to The World Bank, the number of migrants globally is 200 million -
approximately three percent of the world's population. The World Bank
also identifies India as the number one remittance recipient market.
Statistics from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggest that the inward
annual remittance into India stood at over $26 billion for the fiscal
year 2006 - 2007, accounting for approximately 10 percent of the global
inward remittance market.(1)

"We are delighted to work with
Western Union in this path-breaking initiative and be at the forefront
of enabling international remittance over mobile for our 50 million
mobile phone customers in India. This will help us move money via
mobile in a fast and convenient way, supporting low-value
transactions," said Mr. Gopal Vittal, director marketing and
communications, Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti
Airtel has an extensive footprint across India and Western Union,
together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, has more than
320,000 Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. In
India, Western Union operates through 45,000 Agent locations, including
8,500 post offices and more than 14,000 bank branches across 5,000
towns and cities. This program will enable Indians living abroad to
send remittances to their families in India in an easy and convenient
fashion through the vast networks of both companies.

"Our
association with Bharti Airtel for the Mobile Money Transfer service is
an important step in expanding the range of Western Union(R) global
services to a new category of consumers across the world," said Matt
Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. "This is a very exciting
development, especially given the expanse and reach of mobile services
in the Indian subcontinent."

The
reach and accessibility of mobile networks in developing economies
create new opportunities to extend the benefits of financial services
to many families for the first time.

Mobile networks now cover
the majority of the world's population.(2) Applications that allow a
mobile subscriber to view and manage funds on their handsets are
emerging in select countries as a foundation for phone-based financial
services.

The relationship with Bharti Airtel follows a
landmark agreement between Western Union and the GSM Association
(GSMA), a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile
phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile
money transfer services. Bharti Airtel chairs the steering committee of
the GSMA's Mobile Money Transfer program. Thirty-five mobile networks
operators are participating in the program, which is designed to
stimulate the development, trials and commercialization of mobile
remittance services.

(1) Source: RBI

(2) Source: GSMA

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti
Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India's
leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 53
million customers as of the end of October 2007, consisting of 50.9
million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best
performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list in
2007.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business
units: Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The
mobile business provides mobile and fixed wireless services using GSM
technology across 23 telecom circles. The Telemedia business provides
broadband and telephone services in 94 cities and is foraying into the
IPTV and DTH segments. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end
telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international
long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided
under the Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fiber network
currently spans over 55,000 kms covering all the major cities in the
country. The company has two international landing stations in Chennai
that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and
SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. For more information, visit
www.bhartiairtel.in
.

About Western Union

The
Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is a leader in global money transfer
services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta, Vigo and Pago
Facil, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and
convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as
send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a network
of more than 320,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and
territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original
Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.WesternUnion.com.


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