Nearly $55 billion in international remittances will be enabled via mobile devices by 2016. For 2011, it is estimated to be under $12 billion.

According to a report from Juniper Research released recently, growth will come from mobile remittances sent across established migration corridors – such as the US-Mexico and intra-regional transfers across Africa and the Middle East – as migrant workers send money home from foreign countries.

Juniper Research is one of the leading analyst firms in the wireless sector. It specializes in identifying and appraising new high growth market sectors within the mobile ecosystem.

Substantial inter/intra-regional activity from and within Western Europe will see that region account for the largest remittance volumes by the end of the forecast period.

The report – Mobile Money Transfer & Remittances: Business Models & Monetization Opportunities – also highlights the opportunity presented in the medium term by the “trickle-down” of smartphone features and functionality into mass market feature phones, such as touch screen interfaces, apps, and Internet access.

“In markets with low literacy levels, money transfer applications on the handset based around easily recognizable icons may gain a far wider usage than services based around text-based menus,” said Windsor Holden, the report’s author.