Emerging markets operator Millicom has announced a partnership with mobile money firm TransferTo.
The agreement will enable Millicom to more rapidly scale up its Tigo Money brand, which is Latin America’s largest mobile financial services operation. The service allows millions of customers to send and receive money domestically and receive money internationally, as well as pay bills, use P2P services, use self-top ups, and make merchant payments.
All these services are available in real-time, securely and conveniently via Tigo Money Mobile wallets. They can be accessed either by using the Mobile Money app on a smartphone or by the Tigo Money USSD service.
Strengthening Tigo Money’s position in Latin America’s cross-border international remittance space will accelerate opportunities for customers to access additional financial services, supporting financial inclusion in the region. Mobile Money provides a unique solution for those who do not have access to the traditional financial system, enabling these “unbanked” customers to manage their own bill payments, self top-ups, P2P domestic transfer and merchant payments directly from their phone.
The strategic partnership spans all Tigo’s markets in Central and South America: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay, where Tigo Money has over 4 million mobile money wallets users and the company works with over 11,000 mobile money agents.
Tigo and TransferTo have worked together previously to enable airtime transfers to Tigo’s African and Latin American territories. Now, with TransferTo’s Mobile Money Hub, Tigo can accelerate the roll out of successful mobile money transfers to more customers across its markets. TransferTo’s Mobile Money Hub provides a dedicated, scalable and fully compliant solution for financial institutions to connect with millions of mobile money accounts worldwide via a single connection.
Eric Barbier, CEO of TransferTo, comments: “The TransferTo Mobile Money Remittance Hub will enable Tigo customers in multiple markets worldwide to have more control over how, when, and where they access funds via mobile.”
Ronald Alvarenga at Tigo, said: “This partnership with TransferTo will allow Tigo Money to accelerate International remittances business into our digital wallets, by connecting more and more remittance partners around the world in less time and offering a reliable, fast and secure way for customers to receive their money. We aim to enable our customers to reduce their dependency on cash, increase their access to financial products and services whilst supporting Tigo’s expansion of its digital financial ecosystem.”
