Western Union, MTN sign cross-border agreement

The service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN's MobileMoney service has over one million registered users. According to the World Bank, Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3% of the country's GDP.

Once the new international remittance service is activated, MTN subscribers registered for MobileMoney will be able to receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions in their mobile accounts. In addition, MobileMoney users in certain countries will be able to send Western Union Money Transfer transactions directly from their mobile phones for payout at one of Western Union's agent locations available in 200 countries.

Send money locally, internationally

An MTN subscriber who receives a Western Union Money Transfer transaction in a MobileMoney account will be able to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at MobileMoney agents or any participating ATM.

"The Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of our multi-channel strategy to offer our consumers numerous ways to send and receive money," said Khalid Fellahi, Western Union's head of mobile transaction services. "This alliance with MTN - one of the world's most successful mobile operators - will introduce cross-border remittances to an entirely new segment of customers by allowing them to send and receive money using just their mobile phones."

Partnership with local banks

Pieter Verkade, MTN executive of MobileMoney, said, "After bringing domestic financial services to many of our customers, we will now enable customers to receive money from abroad on their mobile phones to take out at their convenience with their local merchant, send it to family or pay a bill."

MTN's MobileMoney service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets. MTN offers the service in partnership with local banks.

Western Union offers the Mobile Money Transfer service in the Philippines with Smart Communications and Globe Telecom; in Kenya with Safaricom; and in Malaysia with Maxis. The company also recently announced an agreement with EnStream in Canada and State Bank of India in India and has other agreements for Mobile Money Transfer with banks in Tunisia, Libya and South Africa.