Cubic Telecom has launched MAXroam, a new mobile roaming product which is claimed to allow anyone to reduce their mobile phone bill by as much as 80 per cent while traveling abroad. MAXroam is the 'world's first' universal SIM and is being launched to consumers in the UK and Ireland through Maplin's network of high street stores, as well as via the Maplin product directory and online.
MAXroam was launched to offer consumers the best country-to-country phone rates anywhere. The service dramatically reduces costs for both the callers and the recipients of roaming phone calls, by using local, in-country numbers, effectively making all global calls local calls.
The MAXroam SIM can be used in any standard GSM mobile phone, and there is nothing to download and no applications to install. Customers are given a local number in their home country and another local number in the country they are traveling to. You can either forward your calls or leave a message telling your callers you are traveling, informing them of your new number. MAXroam can currently be used in over 160 countries around the world.
The deal with Maplin will make the MAXroam SIM available on the high street and means that anyone who regularly travels abroad – for business or pleasure – can now purchase the money-saving SIM.
Once purchased the SIM is easy to register and users can add as many as 50 different numbers to the SIM – choosing local numbers from a choice of more than 40 countries, or creating additional numbers for you to give to different groups of friends or business colleagues – all for a small monthly fee. The phone is then used on a 'pay as you go' basis, with credit top-ups easily added through users's account page on the MAXroam website.
"The launch of MAXroam is putting an end to one of the most extortionate practices in the telco industry – roaming charges. From today, customers in the UK and Ireland can benefit from affordable international calls while traveling abroad" said Cubic CEO and co-founder Pat Phelan.
"We are living in a world where more and more people need to make phone calls across borders. Our mantra is 'all global calls should be local calls', and we have built a product that can do that. MAXroam benefits both holidaymakers and business travellers alike, both of whom can now make or receive calls abroad confident in the knowledge that their calls are only being charged at rates comparable to local rates," Phelan added.