Cork telecom company debuts breakthrough ‘global phone’ in US

A CORK-BASED telecom has unveiled what it described as a breakthrough ‘global phone’ at a major conference in Silicon Valley last night.

Cubic telecom gave the first public demonstration of its WiFi/GSM convergence phone and MaxRoam SIM card at the TechCrunch40 forum.

It is the only Irish company to have been invited to TechCrunch40 and made it through a field of 700 applicants.

Co-founder of Cubic, Pat Phelan said its products eliminate the high cost of international roaming charges, with savings for consumers at about 75% on incoming calls when roaming, and up to 99% on outgoing calls when roaming.

“You often hear that the world is flat, so why not telephony,” said Cubic CEO Pat Phelan.

“We are living in a world where more and more people need to make phone calls across borders and while travelling. Our mantra is ‘all global calls should be local calls’, and we have built a product that can do that.

Customers are issued with a unique SIM card with a new number for their mobile phone. The card is allowed roam for free as it is attached to a landline number.

TechCrunch40 features 40 new start-ups from around the world, who announce and demonstrate their products over a two-day period.

The organisers offer a $50,000 (€36,000) cash prize for the best product. Cubic recently secured €5 million funding for the development of projects.

Mr Phelan said: “We want a world in which you can pick up your mobile phone anywhere and call anyone for as long as you like and not worry about the price.

“There’s no software to download, nothing to configure, nothing new to learn. Our service is straightforward and our network caters to all,” he said.

The company is headquartered in Cork and offers service in 160 countries.