Major coup for Cubic Telecom Down Under as Woolworths forges roaming deal

4 Oct 2012

One of Australia’s biggest retailers Woolworths has signed a deal with Irish company Cubic Telecom that will see its Maxroam service sit at the heart of the Australian retailer’s MVNO business. The deal will deliver considerable value for Australians travelling the world in terms of data roaming.

Cubic Telecom founder Pat Phelan told Siliconrepublic.com that up until now Australian business travelers and holiday makers haven’t been well served with mobile data roaming services and in some cases have had to pay up to AUS$20 per megabyte downloaded and anywhere between AUS$4 and AUS$6 a call.

Last year an OECD report confirmed that Australia is the world’s third location for data roaming.

The deal between Woolworths and Cubic Telecom could offer welcome relief to Australian travelers.

The new Woolworths Mobile Global Roaming SIM will save Australian travelers as much as 90pc on their phone bills.

Visitors to the UK will be able to make calls to anywhere in the world for just 18c per min and all incoming calls are completely free of charge. All their data requirements can be covered from just AUS$7 for a 250MB bundle.

As well as being sold on the Woolworths website, the Global Roaming SIMs will be sold at each of the 890 Woolworths stores nationwide and will come with AUS$10 credit for a total cost of just AUS$29. They can be used in any unlocked phone and come in all sizes including the standard and micro SIM sizes and shortly after launch the new nano SIM which fits into the new iPhone 5.

Phelan described the deal with Woolworths – a AUS$55bn a year retail giant – as “transformative” for Cubic Telecom.

“This takes us into a whole different game and we have our eye on similar deals in other geographies,” Phelan explained.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com