Emerging markets telco Millicom has struck a strategic partnership deal with TransferTo, a global mobile money and value hub, to enable Millicom to more rapidly scale up its Tigo Money brand, Latin America’s largest mobile financial services operation.

The partnership spans all Tigo’s markets in Central and S. America, including El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay, where Tigo Money has over 4m Mobile Money wallet users and works with over 11,000 Mobile Money agents.

Tigo Money today allows millions of customers to send and receive money domestically, and receive money internationally. Customers can also pay bills, use P2P services and self-top ups, and make merchant payments. All the services are available in real-time, securely, via Tigo Money Mobile wallets. User can access Tigo Money via the Mobile Money app on a smartphone or via the Tigo Money USSD service on feature phones.

Mobile Money provides a 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 transfers and merchant payments directly from their phone.

E-Money is administered in real time, meaning consumers access, pay and receive transfers directly within their Tigo Mobile Money accounts. There are two ways to receive international remittances into Tigo Money; the first option requires the sender to provide the receiver’s phone number (which operates like the account number) where the transaction will be directly deposited. The second option requires the sender to provide the receiver’s transaction code, which is entered into the receiver’s Tigo wallet in order to download it. Tigo Money provides high levels of security standards to its users that require input of their secure PIN Code to confirm transactions.

“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,” said Tigo product and commercial director, Ronald Alvarenga. “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.”