Mobile VoIP provider Truphone has launched a new service to help frequent international travellers bypass expensive roaming rates when using their mobile phones abroad.
On Tuesday, the company announced Truphone Local Anywhere at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. This service promises to let travellers use one GSM SIM card to make local phone calls in several different countries.
Truphone did not reveal details about how much the service will cost, and with which countries and operators it will partner to offer the service.
The service is essentially a substitute for the tried-and-true method of swapping out SIM cards for unlocked mobile phones when travelling. Using a local SIM (subscriber identity module) has always allowed people to get a local phone number and make calls in-country at local rates.
For frequent travellers who go to more than one destination, keeping track of SIM cards can be problematic. The new Truphone service will allow these travellers to use one SIM card and sign up for multiple local numbers. Whenever they make an outbound call, they will be using the local phone number and local phone network for where they are located.
Because the service uses one SIM card, callers can use any of the local phone numbers associated with that card to reach the Truphone Local Anywhere customer.
Truphone executives say there is a definite market for this service. Tom Carter, president of the company's operations in North and South America, said the people likely to be interested in a service such as Truphone Local Anywhere are airline pilots, cruise-ship workers and other business travellers who find themselves in the same foreign countries all the time.
"We're really going after people who have what we'd call an 'international lifestyle'," he said.
