Cork company targets US troops with cost-saving SIM cards

THE American military is testing innovative mobile phone SIM cards in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were developed by an Irish company.

The initiative, it emerged, could save US troops millions of dollars in call charges.

A number of European armed forces are also testing the technology, which was developed by Cork-based company Cubic Telecom.

The Max-Roam SIM card piggybacks the mobile phone service of the country the user is located in, but transfers the mobile number to a landline, thus reducing costs significantly.

“An American soldier getting a call from his family at home would normally be charged $20-$25 for three minutes. With our SIM he would be charged just $1.50,” said Pat Phelan, the company’s CEO.

At present, the American military has approximately 1.2 million servicemen serving abroad. The SIM card cannot be tracked, so it wouldn’t compromise covert actions.

The US military authorities provide soldiers with the occasional use of satellite phones to contact their families. But queues to use them are lengthy and often impractical.

Mr Phelan said the SIM card could receive g e-mails, photographs, videos and had instant messaging capabilities.

His company is able to keep call costs low because it doesn’t spend millions on advertising or marketing it.

“The SIM cards are also being tested in Africa and Asia by a number of European armies which have peacekeeping forces there,” Mr Phelan said.

Cubic Telecom director Bernard Murphy said SIM card testing results would be known in the next four to six weeks.

“We’re confident the testing will go well. We are also talking to airlines and travel companies about the card. Enterprise Ireland have been assisting us and they have been a great help,” he said.

The SIM card can hold countless landline numbers from different countries, and it is a pre-paid card and shows the price of the call almost instantaneously.

“The beauty of that is you don’t get a horrendous bill later. You can’t overspend on this system and you can top up the credit automatically through the phone,” said Mr Phelan.