New offering enables consumers in Tanzania to receive money from abroad via their Vodacom M-Pesa account

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., and Dar es Salaam; Dec. 8, 2011 - Now, thanks to a new service from Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Vodacom Tanzania, consumers in Tanzania can get even more from their M-Pesa.

With the launch of this service, friends and family members can visit one of more than 108,000 participating Western Union Agent locations in 65 countries worldwide and send money directly into the mobile wallets of any Vodacom M-Pesa subscriber in Tanzania for the first time. Receivers can use those funds to pay bills, top up airtime and cash out at more than 15,000
M-Pesa agents across the country.

"By joining forces with Vodacom Tanzania, we're giving consumers a fast, reliable and innovative new way to send money across borders to their loved ones in Tanzania," said Karen Jordaan Regional Director Southern and East Africa, Western Union Ventures. "The launch of this service joins our robust mobile money transfer offerings with some of the world's biggest mobile operators and banks."

Western Union continues to offer choice and convenience to consumers worldwide, and its mobile money transfer program allows people to send and receive funds how, where and when they want. The company is leading the way in mobile money transfer with its global infrastructure of more than 435,000 participating Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories.

"Vodacom creates solutions for its customers through innovative services like the one we are launching today with Western Union," said Rene Meza, Managing Director Vodacom Tanzania. "M-Pesa usage in Tanzania has grown month on month, and there has been an outcry from our customers to introduce cross-border money transfer. We are proud to provide a solution that is only available on Vodacom M-Pesa."

"M-pesa customers can now receive money from family and friends living in the US, UK, Canada, Oman, neighbor countries Kenya and Uganda just to mention a few.  Key to note, Vodacom Mpesa customer will NOT be charged upon receiving money but rather customers will pay the normal withdrawal fee when they want to cash out their money.", Mr. Meza went on to say.

The introduction of the service is good news: According to the GSMA Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 report, Africa is now the second-largest mobile market in the world, with more than 620 million mobile users. Over the past 10 years, the number of mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30 percent per year and is forecast to reach 735 million by the end of 2012.

Vodacom M-PESA first launched in 2008 and now has more than 9 million customers and handles more than a million transactions per day. It has become the preferred way of sending and receiving money for many Tanzanians. Vodacom M-Pesa provides its customers an affordable, fast, convenient and safe way to pay for numerous services such as utility bills, airtime recharge for prepaid, tax payment, long-distance bus fare payments and much more.