Telecel Zimbabwe, the Southern African country's second largest mobile operator and the company behind the Telecash mobile money service, said on Tuesday morning that it has now been given the nod to receive remittances from outside the country.

Rival operator Econet Wireless has already been authorised to undertake cross-border remittances from South Africa for its mobile money wallet, EcoCash.

Telecel Zimbabwe said it has "been granted authority by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to receive incoming international remittances directly into subscribers' Telecash wallets".

It has joined hands with money transfer company Mukuru.com to "immediately avail the service to its customers" and it added that it was finalising another partnership with Western Union.

"Zimbabwe has a huge diaspora community which looks after family and friends locally and this new international remittance licence will have a huge impact on the convenience our Telecash subscribers experience while receiving money from outside our borders," said Arthur Matsaudza, the head of mobile financial services at Telecel Zimbabwe.

Matsaudza said the central bank had given the company the go-ahead for international remittances straight into its subscriber's mobile money wallets after gauging the telco's adherence to depositors funds security and anti money laundering regulations. .

Telecel CEO Angeline Vere has confirmed the company's long-term strategy to use partnerships to "increase the convenience of its customers".

"We are currently in talks with various international remittance partners with key corridors in SA, Botswana, UK, Australia and the US amongst other potential countries. We are very confident these partnerships will change the overall mobile financial service experience our customers will have on our Telecash platform," said Vere.