Having announced their partnership in January to improve the payment options available to the Windows Marketplace (for application and content purchases) Microsoft and MACH have extended the agreement, allowing MACH's network partners to add direct billing to Windows Phone. Telstra (in Australia) and Telus (Canada) are using the system, and hopefully more carriers will join in throughout the year.

From the press release:

By connecting to Microsoft’s new Commerce Platform through MACH, operators will benefit from a much quicker and easier integration process and access to the Microsoft Marketplace, securing them a faster time to market and enabling them to benefit from ongoing revenue shares sooner. While the frictionless billing experience for users that MACH’s Direct Billing Gateway [DBG] provides, will enable increased sales conversions on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace, stimulating the apps economy for both the software provider and operators, while allowing developers and merchants to maximise revenues.

Making it easier for the end users to buy content for their phone is always a good thing. One advantage in using operator billing such as the DBG system here, is that the network operators tend to take a cut as well, and if they see regular income coming in from Windows Phone handsets, then you can be sure they are going to look favourably on the platform.

Nokia have a lot of experience with operator billing through the Nokia Store (nee Ovi Store) and have partnerships that continue to see income to this day. Their experience is sure to be one of the many topics that are shared between the two companies following their agreement last year. Expect to see more movement on this topic throughout 2012 which will benefit developers, operators, end users, and Windows Phone as a whole.