Roam4Free allows users to bypass costly roaming charges

FOUR Cork businessmen have rocked the global telecoms market with a new product which offers free mobile roaming calls for life.

Roam4Free allows mobile phone users calling each other between countries to bypass steep roaming charges.

It will cut the cost of roaming by an average of 90%, co-founder and chief executive officer, Pat Phelan, said.

“Roam4Free can do this and still operate at a comfortable profit margin,” he said.

“This should give people some idea of just how much profit traditional international carriers are making off of us.”

Mr Phelan established Roam4Free through Cubic Telecom, a business he founded with his partners, Tony Duncan and Alan Keane. Cubic offers cheap international phone calls from Ireland through its tele99.com website.

It is hugely popular with Ireland’s growing immigrant population.

But the Roam4Free service, which they founded with Cork Luigi Malone’s owner, Don Jeffery, is making headlines across the world.

It issues users with a unique SIM card with a new number for their mobile phone. The card then roams for free in 65 countries. Mr Phelan explained how it worked.

“If someone in France takes lots of calls from Ireland, he would insert this SIM card into a cellphone that was attached to a European mobile number,” he said. “Any calls received from Ireland would then be treated as a local call. There would be zero roaming charges, saving the receiver over a dollar per minute.

“The SIM card sells for €20 and is delivered with €5 credit for calls. When the credit is used up, customers can ‘top up’ at the Roam4Free site.”

The service can be used by people roaming in 115 countries on three continents calling people in any country.

Cubic Telecom began franchising its low-cost telecoms operations last year and is now worth an estimated €15 million.