Truphone offers cheap calls for business travellers

Truphone Local Anywhere allows UK business travellers to make calls at local rates in the US

Truphone has announced the launch of its Truphone Local Anywhere service that will allow frequent UK business travellers to make calls at local rates within the US.

The service will provide calls from as little as 10p a minute if users sign up to a monthly £7.99 tariff. Potential customers will be sent a text message to this effect when they arrive in the US.

Truphone Local Anywhere also provides the option of a local number on one phone, allowing colleagues and contacts in the same country to call that phone on local, rather than international, rates.

Geraldine Wilson, chief executive of Truphone, claimed that the service will be of interest to frequent businesses travellers as they will benefit from cheaper calls and the ease of having to use only one phone when abroad.

"For many regular travellers, using two phones to make cheap calls internally, or allowing users in that country to call them on local rates, is inconvenient," she said.

"But by using our SIM they can simply switch their phone to the local network on arrival, complete with a local number, and use that while in that country."

Truphone first announced the service at last year's Mobile World Congress, but Wilson said that this was to raise awareness and interest in the market in order to bring network operators onboard.

"We expect to have many other announcements in the coming year for major travel destinations such as financial centres and Australia and South Africa, particularly with the upcoming World Cup, so we will have lots more countries on our network in 2010," she explained.

Truphone has partnered with Vodafone to provide the service in the UK, but has not revealed the US carrier.

The company claimed to have 50 businesses already using the service, including several multinationals, while a large number had signed up for a trial taking place next week.