Singtel, Telkomsel enter mobile money alliance

Singapore’s Singtel and Indonesia’s Telkomsel have teamed up to launch a real-time mobile remittance service to Indonesia.

The new service is being offered by SingCash under the Singtel Dash brand. It will allow customers in Singapore to send money to the state-owned PT Pos Indonesia’s 4,500 cash-out points across the nation.

The initiative marks the first collaboration between Singtel and Telkomsel on a mobile money initiative.

The agreement is expected to be expanded in the future to cover more cash pick-up points, and to support mobile remittance directly to Telkomsel’s TCash mobile wallet from Singtel mobile wallets.

According to the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Singapore, there are 200,000 Indonesians living and working in Singapore, and outward remittance from Singapore to Indonesia totals more than $409 million per year.

“Telkomsel’s partnership in Singtel’s remittance service is one effort to support our government in promoting financial inclusion for Indonesian people, especially the unbanked segment,” Telkomsel CEO Ririek Adriansyah said.

“Foreign remittance enables them to improve their quality of life as well as provide an opportunity to begin saving for the future. We believe every little effort to promote financial inclusion will also accelerate the growth of Indonesia’s economy.”