SUDIPTA DEV – Mumbai
Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder and CEO of Jaxtr has launched a pre-paid global SIM in India that is 85 per cent cheaper than other options for international travellers. Jaxtr global SIM card had witnessed a successful launch in the US recently. Pointing out that 15 million Indians travel abroad, 86 per cent of them with mobile phones Bhatia stated, “The problem we are addressing is cost of international call. We have created a global SIM card that works in over 200 countries with rates as as low as local calling rates.” In the US the rate is 15 cents/minute locally and internationally to Canada, Mexico, India, China, etc; 15 cents per text; and 60 cents per MB for 3G data. As of now a Jaxtr SIM card come with three local numbers – US, Canada and UK (for whole of Europe), while more are being added. Users have the option to retain a permanent number for a small monthly fee (starting from US$ one per month).
Jaxtr is a pre-paid SIM card with no rental fee. “The concept is pay as you go. In India we are selling it for Rs 600. The other features are – multiple local numbers on same SIM card. After you are back in India, we will be forwarding your text messages to your number here and voice mail to an email account of your choice,” mentioned Bhatia. The other benefits include special features for corporates, for example if a company buys 5000 Jaxtr SIM cards then there will be a consolidated bill for all the SIM cards.
Bhatia pointed out that international call rates are much cheaper on Jaxtr because the calls are carried on the company’s own network. “We have the best price global SIM as we have our own network except for the last mile connectivity for which we have partners in 200 countries,” he stated. Yogesh Patel, president and co-founder, Jaxtr added, “The key difference is about who owns what network and what is primarily a market play.” The sales strategy is focus after the travel market, the company is also partnering with international travel portals.
