Orange is considering selling its SIM cards to tourists prior to their arrival to France, allowing them [tourists] to save both time and money on roaming costs. According to local news source Challenge, the France Telecom-owned mobile operator is locating point-of-sale terminals in countries outside of France that can be used by tourists to purchase SIM cards prior to travelling. The SIM card service could also be offered online.
Branded as Orange World, the new offering could initially be introduced in a small number of countries before eventually becoming available in around 100 countries across the globe.
And while Orange France confirmed that such plans are underway, they added that any announcement would be premature and that the number of countries that might be involved in the long term is unknown.
France’s Telecoms regulator Arcep says that roaming costs charged to visitors amounted to nearly 500 million EUR last year.
[Via: FierceWireless]