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Under the name T-Travel, Deutsche Telekom is launching an international eSIM product on the market, including for people who are not T-Mobile customers.
T-Travel, like most other eSIM providers, can be used in virtually every country in the world. Customers can choose from four plans for cheap local data traffic. The larger the data bundle, the higher the price.
The service is provided by Telekom Wholesale. That gives away something about how the product came into being. eSIMs emerged thanks to app companies such as Airalo, Holafly and Saily. They were the first to sell virtual SIM cards to travellers who wanted to stay connected and avoid bill shocks. They buy data internationally in bulk and sell it on with a margin on top. A lot of money goes into marketing, often via an affiliate model and social advertising.
Consumers are lapping it up, but that comes at the expense of roaming revenues for established telecom companies. And international roaming happens to be a nicely profitable practice. Deutsche Telekom Wholesale now sells that bulk data not only to third parties, but also “to itself”, to T-Travel.
Most modern mobile phones now support eSIMs. In most cases, these virtual SIM cards are for mobile data only; sometimes, when they are travel SIMs, they also include voice. Incidentally, SIM cards of this kind are not needed within the EU for EU residents. When travelling within Europe, the rule “roam like at home” applies.
© The Content Exchange, source News