Due to their low income, 8,000,000 Colombians can't join the banking system. This means they cannot save or purchase certain essential goods.

So we have created Payphone Bank, an OS that can turn Tigo-Une Payphones into micro-saving devices which work like digital-era piggybanks, where millions of people can deposit their coins into their savings account and thus save or access micro-loans that allow them to purchase basic products and services.

Connecting 13,000 outdated pay phones across Colombia to a central Asterisk-based Voice Response System has turned them into de facto digital banking terminals, enabling low-income citizens to use their coins to access services and goods previously out of their reach. Now not only can they place calls, but also make data recharges for their mobile phones and buy public transport tickets. The Payphone Bank OS enables anyone in any of the main cities in Colombia to open their own personal savings accounts, accessing micro-loans to purchase essential household items and appliances.

Payphones are now being used an average 6,000 times a month for other activities aside from calling, like paying for electricity, making data recharges and buying public transport tickets, radically changing the way in which people engage with the brand and perceive pay phones.

Payphone Bank gives 8 million unbanked Colombians the possibility of creating a micro-savings account through the existing 13,000 Une pay phones across the country. This means they can now purchase public transportation tickets, pay bills, or buy basic household and appliances in monthly installments that can be paid through the pay phones themselves. It also opens a much easier and straightforward way for companies offering these products to reach this low-end target and drive them to buy.

Currently there are 13,000 pay phones across Colombia. All of them are connected to a central Asterisk-based database that can be monitored in real time to track their activity. This data is gathered and interpreted to understand which services are more relevant to the users through their spending behavior and included in the Payphone Bank OS, which is available in all pay phones and accessible through a Voice Response System.

Tigo-Une provides affordable communications through 13,000 pay phones to the low-income population. Pay phones, however, are losing relevance in the digital age. So their goal for 2017 is to make them relevant again through new services that will keep the low end target engaged with the ultimate goal of integrating up to 8 million unbanked Colombians into the financial system.