The service will be made available in Paraguay under the Giros Tigo brand (Tigo Cash) and facilitates consumers to receive money across borders using their mobile phones, said Western Union.
According to the deal, Tigo customers in most of Millicom’s Latin American markets will be able to receive money from Western Union customers directly into their mobile accounts, although specific services under this agreement will differ by country.
Additionally, they can cash out transactions at any Tigo location providing the Giros Tigo facility.
Millicom Latin America mobile financial services head Marcelo Cataldo said the cross-border money transfer service in partnership with Western Union was the first.
"In Paraguay, we have been offering mobile financial services for over 18 months and, in the last quarter of 2011, around 20% of our customers used these facilities. With the addition of cross-border mobile money transfer services which we will soon provide in conjunction with Western Union, we aim to bring additional benefits to a growing number of our customers in Latin America," Cataldo said.
It will also assist Tigo customers to get the benefit of large Western Union’s extensive network of more than 450,000 agent locations across 200 countries.
Millicom operates its business under the Tigo brand in 13 markets across Latin America and Africa.