G'day Australia - the newest Truphone Local Anywhere country

As the sole Australian working at Truphone's UK office, I am very excited about the following Truphone news.

Australia has just been announced as the third Truphone Local Anywhere country, from mid-2010, following on from the UK and USA.

This has been made possible by a partnership between Truphone and Optus, one of Australia's leading telecommunications providers.

I am very excited about this because, as an expatriate Australian living in the UK, from mid-2010 I can add an Australian phone number and Australian local rates to my Truphone Local Anywhere SIM, alongside my UK number and rates, and all my friends and family (and especially my mum!) in Australia can then call me for the cost of a local call, even though I am on the other side of the world.

And when I go back home to visit, I can avoid paying roaming rates when making and receiving calls, send text messages and use data. 

You can read all about the partnership in today's press release.

(image via Behmor)

Comments

[F. J. Masson]

Dear Trufone team,

a multi-IMSI SIM is probably the best way to manage different Customer profiles in one phone. It delivers great Customer benefits (you'll never roam anymore ie always call & be called locally) and could ideally be combined with some IDD cheap calling rates - routed over IP or not. This is more or less what "Trufone Local Anywhere" is (at least in between the UK / USA / Australia).

Strategically, I wonder why Trufone is entering such a business. In a context where National, IDD and Roaming rates are getting lower and more regulated, the "always local" business can only generate extremely low revenues and margins. Frequent travelers are less frequent travelers in the economic context and Business customers are provided with all inclusive bundle covering their IDD and Roaming needs for both voice and data. Companies like Transatel haven't proven to be really successful in providing similar services. What is your ambition ?

On a Consumer perspective you could probably argue that Britons travel more across Europe rather than the US or Australia - at least more frequently, which is key when looking at cheaper communication services. France, Spain and Italy could have made more sense for frequent travellers / roamers. For Business equally. What are your plans in extending the "Local Anywhere" coverage accross Europe ?

Looking at the Customer experience in managing a multi-IMSI phone makes me feel about complexity rather than simplicity:
- Profile selection management: as only one profile (IMSI) is active at a time, how does Customer manage their profile selection ? As profiling includes network security acknowlegments, call barings, tariff provisionning and service management, this should be done automatically (vs manaually) and linked with the location and roaming agreements. Is it the case with Trufone ?

- Location management: is it for the Customer to switch from IMSI and connect to the right network in the right Country or is it done automatically ? the "always local" promise could turn into "always in roaming" if not set up correctly. How does Trufone manage this ?

- Call control management: managing both outgoing and incoming calls on 2 IMSI is complex - as only one is active at a time. This involves call forwarding (e.g. US incoming calls forwarded to UK IMSI while in UK, UK incoming calls forwarded to US), possibly 2 voice mails (UK, US) to manage, 2 SMS mail boxes... How does Trufone ensure a global continuity of service ? At what cost for the Customers ?

- In-life service management: managing Customers in between 2 Countries is complex - Top-up, billing, Customer service, loyalty programs, in-life migrations... How will Trufone provide a decent Customer relationship in the mid to long term ?

Business wise, Vodafone is your UK host MNO but as often, it doesn't seem very supportive: the (?) MVNO wholesale model, the non-Vodafone partenerships in the US or in Australia, the non Vodafone distribution deal agreements, the non Vodafone top-up mechanisms...
What is your business model ? Is it a try or a long term move ? What are your next steps ?

Many thanks for your answers.

[Truphone]

Hi there,

We read your comment with great interest – these are some big but really interesting questions.

As you highlight here, the architecture behind Truphone Local Anywhere is hugely complex, but we are passionate about providing our customers with an elegant, simple, convenient and cost effective solution. As such, we have spent several years developing the service to ensure a seamless experience. The fact that we have one single global mobile platform as well as a single billing system makes us unique, and is what allows us to provide our services globally.

Our vision is to become the Number One global communications brand amongst our target audience of international travellers. With Truphone Local Anywhere we are helping people with an international lifestyle to connect to their friends, family and colleagues without being subject to huge roaming charge. Whilst at present we are active in the US and the UK, we are looking to roll out in over 20 key leisure and business destinations by 2011, of which many will be European.

You raise questions about the customer experience, profile management, and location management. We take care of all of this for the customer. Our technology will recognise which country and you are in and manage the experience accordingly. If a UK resident, who has added US local rates, lands in the US, we will recognise that and activate your US IMSI so US local rates are applied. Additionally if a customer has both a UK and US number then the number that is local to the person they are calling will be displayed (so the person being called can intuitively call back without making an international call.)

In terms of customer service – we have trained Truphone staff all over the globe and so far we have had positive feedback. We are keen to hear back on customer experiences – good and bad, so that we can ensure that we provide the highest levels of customer service and make the TLA service brilliant. We encourage our customers to feedback to us over email, on our Facebook or Twitter page, or right here on our blog.

Regards our global operator agreements: we are in discussions with operators all over the world. As I’m sure you can appreciate based on your experience at Orange...every market is different, and we are working with the operators that provides us with the best fit in each territory.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

[F. J. Masson]

Thank you for your answers and sorry I've spelt Truphone with an "f" !

Have you found your new CMO yet ? If not, feel free to contact me !

Hope to hear from you soon.

Fabrice

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And when I go back home to visit, I can avoid paying roaming rates when making and receiving calls, send text messages and use data.

[Kevin]

Not long until mid year 2010 and no announcement yet of a start date! Any known hold ups? I have 2 sims waiting to have local numbers activated.

[Heath from Truphone]

Good point Kevin - it is close to mid-2010. No official start date just yet, but as soon as there is, you will hear about it here. I am just as keen as you to get an Australia number onto my Truphone Local Anywhere SIM!

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