Millicom (Stockholmsbörsen: MIC) (STO:MIC), (MIICF), the international telecommunications and media company, announced today that its Tigo operation in Tanzania has launched the world's first mobile money service which offers users the opportunity to automatically earn a return on their balance direct to their wallet without the need for a separate registration.
The service in Tanzania is called Tigo Wekeza (“Tigo Invests”), and will allow over 3.5 million Tigo Pesa users to benefit from quarterly payments based on the balance held in their account.
Tigo Pesa users in Tanzania will also have the option to nominate a non-profit beneficiary, in line with their personal cultural belief.
Commenting on the new service today, Millicom’s President and CEO, Hans-Holger Albrecht said “This innovation reflects our commitment to develop mobile money into an even more attractive service and will extend financial inclusion further. It comes in a year when we have already pioneered cross-border mobile money transfers with automatic currency conversion as well as a unique interoperability arrangement with other operators in Africa.”
The Chief Regulatory Officer of the GSMA, the mobile industry’s global association, Tom Phillips added “This new service is a further example of the many pioneering ways in which the industry supports inclusive financial and social policy goals. Congratulations to Tigo. I look forward to seeing other operators offering similar services.”
Earlier this month a one-time return to Tigo Pesa users based on their accrued balances was announced. The trustees of these funds were able to achieve an aggregate return of 9.2% for the beneficiaries. This and the new service has been authorised by the Bank of Tanzania following the announcement of new policy by the central bank earlier this year.
Millicom has 4.7m mobile money customers in its six Tigo operations in Africa and 2.7m in five countries in Latin America.