I haven't talked much about my friends at Truphone lately. Fascinating company that's been doing some really cool stuff to enable fixed mobile convergence by putting the power in the hands of users for the past year.


This morning they announced an international calling rate plan that makes mobile calling around the world affordable at rates that beat just about everyone's. They certainly beat the telcos. And unless you're talking free PC-to_PC calls via Skype, odds are you can't do a whole lot better than this.

At the upcoming VON.x conference in San Jose, my partner Sheryl and I will be doing a video segment of our GeekSpeakTV series of video shows with James Body. James is a good friend and the Networks Director at Truphone. He's fascinating and fun guy (He's promised Sheryl a Pink Flirtini at VON.), and always a great guest. ANyone who carries 37 mobile phones through airport security can't help but be fascinating. We hope you'll watch the show. I plan on crossposting it here once we've got it ready.

Here's the press release on their hot new announcement.

Truphone Makes International Calling Affordable For Everyone

Hangs up on mobile international roaming charges

LONDON - March 4, 2008 - The days of making expensive international mobile phones calls are over thanks to Truphone, an innovative UK mobile company.

Truphone, the “mobile operator for the Internet age,” has revealed a revolutionary new pricing structure that makes international calling more affordable than ever by eliminating international roaming charges.  The company’s service routes all mobile and landline calls using Wi-Fi and the Internet. 

Truphone customers will be able to call countries in its “Tru Zone” at the fabulously low rates of just USD0.06 per minute to landlines and USD0.30 per minute to mobiles from almost anywhere on the planet.  More importantly, a Truphone-to-Truphone mobile call is always free, no matter where in the world the two parties may be traveling.

The 40 countries in the “Tru Zone” account for 60 percent of the world’s mobile phones and include most EU countries, Australia, Japan and Russia.  Calls to certain countries - including China, Hong Kong, USA and Canada - will cost even less, at just USD0.06 per minute to both landlines and mobiles.

By contrast, a Verizon Wireless customer without an international calling plan could pay as much as USD1.49 per minute to call a landline phone or USD1.68 to call a mobile phone in Germany.  That same person calling from Germany (using a rented mobile phone) to the United States would be charged about USD1.29 per minute.

Truphone frees people not only from high prices but also from the fear of those high prices.  “People don’t know how much they’ll be charged to make a mobile call to friends abroad or to call back home from holiday.  But they do know it’s expensive,” explained James Tagg, Truphone’s CEO.  “We’ve made it simple for customers by eliminating roaming charges.  Now they can pay the same low price to make a call, wherever they are in the world.”

“Wi-Fi and the Internet, which we use to carry our customers’ calls, is almost everywhere.  Those on holiday, expatriates, migrant workers, business people, anyone with friends, family or colleagues in a different country... they can all now sidestep high international roaming fees.  People should be hanging up on roaming charges, not be hung up on them,” Tagg said.

Truphone has also eliminated roaming charges for receiving mobile calls abroad, something that routinely impacts travellers who don’t realize that they pay a high price for inbound calls.  Receiving a call abroad is much more affordable with Truphone.

TRUPHONE, the global, mobile operator for the Internet age is changing the TELECOM landscape and winning customers with innovative and cost effective solutions

I've often used the phrase click-to-converge to describe solutions that put the power of choice in the hands of users. Truphone's one of the bright lights in the mobile market that delivers on this power every day.

Technorati Tags: Truphone, James Body, fixed mobile convergence. FMC, mobility, GeekSpeakTV