$10 of MTN credit costs you $11.80 from a US retailer. That extra $1.80 is the markup. It splits between the retailer, the aggregator, the telco and FX. None of it lands in your relative's phone.
Why it exists
Telcos use diaspora top-ups as a high-margin product. The diaspora sender is price-insensitive in a hurry, the retailer competes on convenience, and the markup hides inside a number that already looks small.
By destination
- Nigeria · ~17 to 18% blended markup.
- Ghana · ~16 to 17% markup.
- Sierra Leone · ~22% markup, the highest in our index.
- Cuba · ~25% markup, plus heavy remittance friction.
Add up ten years of $30 monthly top-ups at 20% markup and you have shipped $720 of pure margin to people you never met. That is another reason every fee dollar at Airtime Money becomes a free entry.