Satish Kalra, assistant general manager of Sahara Airlines, often travels abroad, particularly to the United Kingdom and Dubai, where he oversees the airline's pilots simulated training programme.
Two months ago, when he went to the UK for a month, he bought a pre-activated, local mobile phone card for the UK before he left the country.
"With the local UK card number that I bought from Matrix Cellular Services in New Delhi, I saved about £250 during my trip. It was the most cost-effective way to stay in touch with your family back home. Besides, the company gets in touch with you in your forward destination and automatically logs you into one of the local networks. Even though the pricing may vary in different countries, incoming calls remain free."
To tap the outbound market of leisure, student and business travellers, Matrix has come up with an alternative and economical option to what your international roaming can provide: log onto a local card right here at home and save money.
How is it more cost efficient?
"For example, if you take a local mobile number in the UK, you'll be charged on a per second pulse rate billing which works out to Rs 75 a minute to make a call home and Rs 20 to make a local call there."
"Whereas, in the case of Indian numbers with international roaming, you'll end up paying Rs 150 for a minute call to India and Rs 40 to make a local call," explains Gagan Dugal, managing director of Matrix.
For frequent fliers who travel more than 12 times a year, the company has a contractual plan whereby it offers special free talk time.
The company is also targeting the large number of students who travel to study abroad annually.
"Roughly, 10-12,000 students go to study in the UK. Add to that number students going to other countries such as the United States, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Russia. We captured about 3,000 clients last year and hope to double that number this year," says Dugal.
Currently, the company has 3,000 contractual clients, including the likes of Pawan Munjal and Shah Rukh Khan.
For its card rental services, targeted at leisure travellers, or businessmen who travel out once or twice a year, it has about 300-400 regular customers.
"The other advantages of having a pre-activated international number is that you are charged on a per second pulse rate billing unlike international roaming, which has a 60-second pulse rate billing," he says.
"That means even for a 121 seconds talk time, you'll be charged for two minutes. Besides, your card will work even before you leave the country which we can deliver to the customer within 48 hours," says Dugal.
The company currently provides mobile connectivity in 11 countries -- the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, China, South Africa, Nepal, including CDMA countries like Brazil and Japan.
"As part of our business strategy, we hope to cover footprints in one new country every month. At present, we get maximum clients from people travelling in the UK, but we hope the US will overtake in the billing business soon," says Dugal, whose Rs 22 crore (Rs 220 million) business also handles mobile phone rental business for Hutchison India.
Its international roaming business fetched Rs 4.5 crore (Rs 45 million) last year and targeting Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) this year.
To promote its international card rental business, the company has tied up with American Express to offer special deals for its corporate Gold Card members travelling to the US and the UK. It is also planning a media campaign that's expected to be launched this week.
Getting started
You can order your international card at the toll free number 1600 11 1500.