Truphone announces Truphone Local Anywhere to make calling cheap worldwide

Truphone is on the rage. At the Mobile World Congress they announced a new offering called Truphone Local Anywhere. The idea is to go beyond VoIP application and offer a single-SIM, multi-country mobile service that will turn any mobile call within the set of supported countries into a local call.

Some of the Truphone Local Anywhere features include:

• Number portability of existing mobile and landline numbers to Truphone
• Multi-language customer support
• Ability to manage Caller ID
• Competitive rates on domestic calls, SMS and data in home country
• Low-cost international calling to the world from any Truphone Local Anywhere-supported country
• Up to 80% savings on roaming charges
• No roaming surcharges to received calls in most major destinations
• TruFriends – even lower rates for calling other Truphone Local Anywhere users
• Additional “virtual” country mobile numbers which seem “local” in another country so friends/colleagues can call at local rates.

In a nutshell, Truphone wants you to dump your existing SIM card and grab theirs, and they have a compelling offering to entice you to do so.
But, there’s always some “but.” If you’re not travelling that often, Truphone’s offering may not be for you. As a matter of fact they identified several groups of users who may be interested in Truphone Local Anywhere. They include travel industry workers, second home owners, professional expatriate workers, international business people and international students.

Now you may wonder about the price and the availability. Truphone Local Anywhere is coming in H2 2009 and we still don’t have all the rates. However, I’m sure we’ll find out more as soon as they have something new to report. Stay tuned, in the meantime…