South Africa’s MTN Group and India’s Bharti Airtel have reached an agreement to launch cross-border remittance services between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso for the telecommunications operators’ Mobile Money customers on either side of the border.

Until now, moving money between the two countries was complicated by high fees, high usage of informal channels and a lack of proximity to withdraw money, MTN said in a statement.

“MTN and Airtel already enjoy great adoption of Mobile Money services in their respective footprints, and connecting their operations through remittance services appears a logical next step,” MTN said. A sizeable number of people from Burkina Faso work in Côte d’Ivoire and send money back to their home country.

Airtel Africa group director of Airtel Money Chidi Okpala said this is the first time that two large providers of mobile money services are co-operating to offer a cross-border remittance service.