MTN and airtime remittance services provider, TransferTo, have teamed up to offer international mobile top-up services to customers across borders via TransferTo’s global network.

MTN says international mobile top-up is a “cost-effective complement to cash remittances that enables instant and convenient small value transfers in the form of prepaid mobile credits”.

Money transfer companies, including other businesses targeting migrant populations — such as mobile operators, retailers and financial institutions and telecommunications providers — offer this remittance service to their customers who find it to be a low-cost, high value gift.

MTN operates networks in 21 countries in the Middle East and Africa with about 150m customers. TransferTo operates a global airtime remittance network.

The service is available through various channels, including at www.TransferTo.com, or via sending partners in countries such as the UK, the US, Canada, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Already, the service allows a mobile subscriber in France to top up his cousin’s MTN Congo prepaid account via SMS, or a Nigerian residing in London to transfer airtime to an MTN Nigeria phone from a mobile or via TransferTo.com.

It will soon enable Yemeni citizens in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the UAE to remotely send credits to MTN Yemen prepaid users, Afghan nationals living in the US and Canada to instantly top-up MTN Afghanistan prepaid accounts. — Staff reporter, TechCentral