Xpress Money signed a deal with Huawei to widen the reach of its remittance service to serve 100 million mobile money accounts running on the Chinese vendor’s platform.

The deal, Xpress Money said, will increase the range of destinations its customers can send money to, with a focus on reaching the unbanked in Africa.

Xpress Money has 200,000 agents across 165 countries providing international remittance to bank accounts, companies and other agents.

Huawei’s mobile money platform is used by operators in ten African countries including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Its customers include Safaricom, Vodacom and Teasy Mobile.

“For those that have limited access to formal banking services, mobile money is a critical technology,” Xpress Money COO Sudhesh Giriyan said: “There are over 500 million mobile money accounts currently in use, and with Huawei servicing over 100 million of these, we’re confident this collaboration will improve the state of financial services for Africa’s unbanked.”

“Africa is a key market in the mobile money industry and it’s imperative we give our customers here access to the best services,” added David Chen, director of marketing and solution sales at Huawei Southern Africa.